RWBY: Shining Destiny
by RebelKira
Summary: Wanting to honor his fallen father, Cian Riley joins Beacon Academy to become a huntsman himself. Will he become a powerful huntsman like his father, or will other circumstances prevent that from happening. I don't own RWBY I only own the OC's. Rated M for Mild Language, Violence, and Sexual themes.
1. Chapter 1

**How's it going everyone RebelKira here. Coming at you with a new story I've been tossing around for a while. If you enjoy this, I recommend checking out my other stories RWBY: Kitty-Kat and RWBY: Red Ice. I also recommend you check out Team BAWM on TheBurningRuler's page. I Co-Write it along with Ruler and another great author by the name of Nightmare 6-4. Anyway, on with the first chapter of RWBY: Shining Destiny.**

"Cian Riley! What is taking you so long?" My mom yelled from downstairs.

"I'll be down in a sec mom." I called out.

I put my chest plate on over my shirt and grabbed my duffle bag. I had short light blue hair and was wearing black pants with a blue shirt under my armor. I also had on metal gloves and boots. Attached to my chest plate were two swords hanging off my back. I put my domino mask on and headed downstairs.

"Bout time you came down. Any longer you'd probably miss your ship." My sister said sprawled out on the couch.

"At least I know what I wanna do with my life." I asked.

"That's enough both of you. Honestly Aelita, can't you just be happy for him?" Mom said.

"My baby brother is going to become a big strong huntsman, of course I'm happy for him." Aelita said. She got up and walked over to me. "I still don't get why you wanna go to Beacon. Haven Academy is just as good. Besides it's a shorter walk when you decide to come home and give up."

"Aelita!" Mom said.

"It's fine mom. Haven is where dad trained to be a huntsman. I don't wanna be compared to him. To have extra expectations put on me because of him. I wanna make my own legacy." I said.

"Well if you don't get going, you'll never get that chance." Mom said.

I looked at the clock and saw my ship left in ten minutes.

"Alright I'm off. I'll try to call when I get the chance." I said.

My mom walked over and gave me a hug and kiss. I waved at my sister and walked out the door.

"Hey!" Aelita called out from behind me. I turned back to her. She wrapped her arms around me. "Just be careful, I don't think mom could take it if she lost you and dad."

"I'll miss you too. I gotta get going though." I said putting my arms around her. We separated and I started running to the docks. The ship wasn't as big as I expected, but I suppose with most students from Mistral going to Haven Academy they don't need one very big to go to Beacon. I went to get on the airship, but my foot caught the edge and I fell face first into the ship.

"Well I'm off to a great start." I said rolling onto my back.

"Do you need some help?" A girl asked holding her hand out. She had long red hair with a gold ringlet. She wore a brown corset and a black skirt with a red sash around it. She had long brown gloves and a shield on her back with the handle of some weapon sticking out. I grabbed her hand and she helped me up.

"Thanks, um…" I started.

"Pyrrha Nikos. It's nice to meet you." She said.

"I'm Cian Riley. So, I'm guessing you're going to Beacon also?" I asked.

"Well that is where the ship is taking us." She said.

"Oh yeah, I guess you wouldn't be on the ship if that's not where you were going." I said.

"If you don't mind my asking, why are you wearing a mask?" She asked.

"My dad used to wear one just like it. So, I wear it to honor his memory." I said.

"Used to?" She asked.

"We lost him about eight years ago. Grimm attacked the village I live in, he fought them back along with the two other huntsman that lived in the village. He ended up getting poisoned with deathstalker venom and didn't make it." I said.

"Oh gods, I am so sorry." She said covering her mouth

I smiled and shook my head "It's fine I expected to get asked. Besides, he's the reason I wanted to become a huntsman." My smile didn't last long though. "He's also the reason I chose Beacon over Haven. He graduated from Haven Academy. I don't want to be expected to live up to his example. I wanna make my own story."

"Doesn't that contradict wearing the mask then?" She asked confused.

"The only reason he wore the mask was because of me. When I was about five, I called him a superhero. Somehow it gave him the idea to start wearing a mask whenever he had to work. Which only made him even cooler to me at the time. From what I was told he stopped being a fulltime huntsman after my older sister was born. He'd only take a job from time to time to help pay for things. Anytime he'd go on a mission though he'd always make sure to wear the mask when he left. I don't know if he ever actually kept the thing on or not, but he always left and rarely ever came back without it on. I figure since he only wore it for a couple years, he wouldn't be known for it. So, to honor him I wanted it to be part of my normal attire." I said.

"I think that's a very wonderful and sweet idea." She said.

I put my hand behind my head and turned a bit to conceal my blushing. "So um… Why did you choose Beacon over Haven?"

"It felt right. Something about Beacon stood out to me over Haven. So here I am. Ready to take on whatever destiny has in store for me." She said.

"Destiny?" I asked.

"I'm guessing you don't believe in it?" She asked.

"Not particularly. I don't really know what I believe. Maybe things are written in stone, or maybe we have the power to choose our own fate. I don't feel like there is a definite answer." I said.

"What do you mean?" She asked interested.

"Well think of it this way. You have two paths that both lead to the same place. One is a strait line, and the other has a bunch of twists and turns. You can choose to take either path, but your destiny is to end up in the same place either way. On one hand it could be seen that your choice won't matter because the outcome will be the same no matter what. However, each path contains its own challenges. You have the choice to decide, but your personality could make it seem like you are destined to pick only one path. A more cautious person would elect to take the strait path expecting it to have less to worry about. Where as a more adventurous person would take the other path for… well adventure. So even if it seems like you have a choice it may be fate for you to only choose one path." I said.

"You seem to have thought about this a lot." She said.

"Well you're not the first person who I've talked to about this. I used to hear a lot that it was my dad's destiny to protect his village to the end. On one hand I can see where that's true, but if you think about it. He had another choice too. He could have taken me, my mom and my sister to safety instead of fighting. Because of his personality he chose to fight." I said.

"Do you think if he'd chose to take you away, he'd still be around?" She asked.

"Who knows, maybe we'd have been ambushed and all of us would have been killed. There's always so many other factors and we don't always know what the outcome is going to be." I said.

Before she could reply a hologram of a woman appeared. She was an older woman with blond hair wearing white long sleeved top and a black long skirt.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon! My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future huntsmen and huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

"Ready to see what destiny has in store for us?" I asked smiling.

"You think you'll make the right choices?" She asked with a small laugh.

"Guess we'll find out." I said.

As the airship docked. I grabbed my bag and followed Pyrrha out. I stopped and stared up at the huge structure that would be my home for the next four years.

"This place is amazing don't you think?" I asked. No one responded. I looked around and noticed Pyrrha had disappeared. "Well that lasted longer than I expected." I started following a group of people towards hoping I was going the right way. After a while I'd made my way to the amphitheater. I still had no idea where Pyrrha had gone so I decided to stand in the back. Sometime later Glynda had made her way to the stage with someone ahead of her.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." The man said.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." Glynda said.

I once again followed the crowd to find the ballroom.

'I really should have gotten Pyrrha's number earlier. Maybe I wouldn't feel as lost.' I thought as I looked around before noticing a place next to a girl with a black bow reading. I walked over toward her.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, but do you mind if I set up next to you? There doesn't seem to be a lot of free spaces left." I said.

"Sure, just try not to be to noisy please." She said.

"Thanks." I set my stuff in the empty spot next to her. I removed my gloves, boots and chest piece. I started setting up my sleeping bag when two girls walked over and started talking to the girl with the bow. I mostly ignored them and started reading my own book until the shorter girl asked what the girl with the bow's book was about.

"Your book. Does it have a name?" The shorter girl asked.

"Well... i-it's about a man with two souls, each fighting for control over his body." The bow girl said.

"Oh, yeah... That's real lovely!" The blond-haired girl said somewhat sarcastically.

"I love books. Yang used to read to me every night before bed. Stories of heroes and monsters... They're one of the reasons I want to be a Huntress!" The short girl said.

"And why is that? Hoping you'll live happily ever after?" The bow girl said with a small laugh.

"Well, I'm hoping we all will. As a girl, I wanted to be just like those heroes in the books... Someone who fought for what was right, and protected people who couldn't protect themselves!" The short girl exclaimed.

"That's... very ambitious for a child. Unfortunately, the real world isn't the same as a fairy tale." The bow girl said as her smile disappeared.

"Well, that's why we're here! To make it better." The short girl said.

"Oh, I am so proud of my baby sister!" Yang said.

"Cut it out!" The short girl said trying to break free from Yang's grasp.

The bow girl gave a small laugh. "Well, Ruby, Yang, it's a pleasure to ha…"

She was cut off by a girl in white yelling at the two girls fighting.

"Sorry I don't mean to bother you again, but the book you're reading. It's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, right?" I asked.

"Yeah actually, have you read it?" She asked.

"No, but it's one I've been meaning to check out. I've just never been able to find a copy." I said.

"Well I suppose I could let you borrow it at some point." She said.

"Thanks, but I'll probably just see if the library has it. I already lost the first friend I made I'd feel bad if I never got it back to you." I said.

"You lost a person?" She asked.

"Well after I got off the airship I got distracted and she kept waking." I said.

"Well I could always give you my scroll number in case they don't have it here." She said.

"Thanks. I'm Cian by the way" I said holding out my hand.

"Blake." She said shaking my hand. We quickly exchanged numbers when she noticed my book.

"How about you? What are you reading?" She asked.

I gave a small chuckle. "It's about a book that doesn't actually exist. It's written as an abridgment to a longer book by an author that also doesn't exist. It's got romance, comedy, action, drama, suspense, and murder all in one. It can make you actually believe that the book it's talking about actually exists. It's actually one of my favorites." I said.

"That sounds interesting, maybe we could swap when we've finished." She said.

"Sure, we should probably get some sleep though. It might be a long day tomorrow." I said.

"Yeah you're probably right." She said. She blew out her candle and we both went to sleep.

The next morning, I woke up fairly early. I noticed not a lot of the others had woken up yet, so I decided to take advantage and get a shower quick. Once I'd finished getting ready for the day I walked back to where my stuff was and started reading again. A few minutes Blake woke up.

"Morning sleeping beauty." I said.

"What did you just say?" She asked with a slight blush.

"Huh? I said…" I started before I realized why she questioned it. "N-nothing I was just quoting a movie. I wasn't calling you beautiful. N-not to say that you aren't beautiful. I mean the bow does make you look cute. Wait I didn't mean that. I mean I did, but not in the 'I like you' way. Not that I don't like you. I mean you do seem really nice, and I'm just gonna stop talking now."

She started laughing a bit. "Don't worry about it, how long have you been up?"

"A-about forty-five minutes maybe." I said trying to compose myself.

"Looks like most everybody's still asleep." She said.

"Yeah I figured I'd wait till more people woke up till I go to breakfast. I'm pretty sure I'd get lost on my own." I said.

"Well give me a few minutes to get ready and we can head there together." She said standing up.

I continued to read my book occasionally looking around to see of I could spot Pyrrha to no avail. I watched as a girl with orange hair in a white and pink outfit moved rapidly around a guy with black hair and a pink stripe wearing a green long coat. She continued to move around him at high speeds talking a mile a minute while he got ready all while staying silent. Once Blake got back, we packed up our stuff and headed to the cafeteria.

"So, if you don't mind me asking why the mask?" She asked.

"My dad would wear one when he would go out on a job when I was a kid. It's my way of honoring him." I said.

"Okay, but then why aren't I able to see your eyes?" She asked.

"It's part of being a superhero. You have to have a mask that covers your eyes." I said.

"Don't tell me you wanna be like the superheroes in comics too." She said with a chuckle.

"Of course not." I said.

"Good." She said.

"They are all fake. There's only one real superhero. My dad wore a mask like this because I used to call him one. When he wore it, he looked like a real-life hero. Not like the ones you see in stories. He gave his life protecting those he loved like a true hero." I said.

"It's touching, but don't you think it'll cause trouble in class or make you a target?" She asked.

"It probably will, but what hero doesn't have to overcome adversity? Super or not." I said.

"You really like playing the hero, don't you?" She asked.

"Well when you can pull it off as good as me why not?" I said making a ridiculous pose.

"Really? I don't think I've heard of a hero babbling like an idiot trying to explain himself." She said crossing her arms with a smile on her face.

"Ha ha ha. I'm not trying to play a hero like some kid at a convention or whatever. It's just the way I want to remember him. How about you? Why do you wear the bow?" I asked.

"I have ever since I was a little girl. It's just something I never grew out of." She said a little nervously.

"Hey, I wasn't trying to make fun of you or anything. I like it." I said.

"I believe you said it was cute actually." She said with a chuckle.

"That's not… I meant…" I tried saying.

"It's fine I'm just messing with you." She said as we finally made it to the cafeteria.

"Cian!" Pyrrha yelled out from a few tables away.

"I'm guessing that's you're lost friend?" Blake asked.

"Yeah, you wanna I'm sure you're welcome to join us." I said.

"It's fine you go catch up. I'll catch you later." She said.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah I'll be fine." She said walking away.

"Alright I'll see you later." I said. 'Hopefully.'

I walked over and sat next to Pyrrha.

"What happened? You were next to me on second then you were gone the next." Pyrrha asked.

"I could say the same thing. I looked up at the school and you vanished." I said.

"I kept walking I thought you were still behind me." She said with a small laugh.

"So, have you put any thought into teams?" I asked.

"Not really, I mean we don't even know how teams are going to be formed yet." She said.

"Yeah I guess you have a point. I just hope I at least get on a team with people I know." I said.

"How many people do you know here?" She asked.

"Well there's… you and Blake. That's it." I said.

"While I'd be happy to be teammates with you. I don't think your odds are very high." She said.

"I can hope." I whispered.

"What?" She asked.

"N-nothing." I said.

After breakfast we headed to the locker room. I placed my bag inside my locker and walked back over to Pyrrha. She was talking with a girl in a white dress.

"Well... I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together." The girl in white said.

"Well, that sounds grand." Pyrrha said.

"Great" The girl in white said.

A boy with blond hair and armor over a sweatshirt walked up to the girls at the same time I did.

"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Nice to meet you." Jaune said to the girl in white completely ignoring Pyrrha.

"You again?" She asked annoyed.

"Nice to meet you, Jaune." Pyrrha said.

"Yeah, yeah. So, Weiss, couldn't help but overhear your fondness of me the other day." Jaune said pushing Jaune aside.

"He can't take a hint can he?" I asked.

"I'm sure he means well." Pyrrha said.

"Don't worry. No need to be embarrassed. So, been hearing rumors about teams. I was thinking you and me would make a good one! What do you say?" Jaune asked.

"Actually, I think the teams are comprised of four students each, so…" Pyrrha started to say before getting cut off.

"You don't say. Well, hot stuff, play your cards right and maybe you could join up with the winning team." Jaune said.

"What makes you think you'd be the winning team? I'm pretty sure snow white here could beat you with one hand." I said.

"Do either of you have any idea who you're talking to?" Weiss asked.

"Nope." I said.

"Not in the slightest, snow angel." Jaune said.

"I am Weiss Schnee heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. This is Pyrrha Nikos." Weiss said.

"Hello, again." Pyrrha said.

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class at Sanctum." Weiss said.

"Never heard of it." Jaune said.

"I didn't train there." I said.

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row. A new record." Weiss said.

"The what?" Jaune asked.

"She did? I must have missed that. No wait I think that's when we visited my cousins in Vacuo. We go about the same time every year." I said.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box." Weiss said waving her arms anger.

Jaune gasped. "That's you? But they only do that for star athletes and cartoon characters."

"Yeah, it was pretty cool. Sadly, the cereal isn't very good for you." Pyrrha said.

"I didn't like it anyway, so I usually skipped right past it in the cereal aisle." I said.

"So, after hearing all of this, do either of you really think you're in a position to ask either of us to be on your team?" Weiss asked.

"I guess not... Sorry..." Jaune said lowering his head.

"Well to be fair I didn't ask to be on your team. I don't think I'd really want to be if you act like this. Plus, with everything you just said do you really think you deserve to be on a team with her any more than either of us?" I asked.

"Of course, I do! Pyrrha and I only deserve the best. Not nobodies like you and him." Weiss said angrily.

"Actually, Jaune, Cian, I think you'd both make great leaders." Pyrrha said.

"D'oh, stop it." Jaune said perking up.

"See, she thinks were somebodies." I said.

"Please stop it. Their behavior is not something that should be encouraged." Weiss said.

"Maybe you could try it some time. It might make you more likable." I said.

Jaune pushed his way between me and Weiss. "Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick. Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?"

"Okay that's enough." I said grabbing the hood of his sweatshirt. "Pushy is one thing, your getting creepy." I started pulling him away from the two girls and outside.

"I wasn't trying to be pushy or creepy. My dad said all women look for is confidence. So, I was trying to seem confident." Jaune said.

"Yeah pretty sure that wasn't confidence. Pyrrha doesn't seem like the type of person to get offended by that kind of behavior, but I'm pretty sure you've been black listed by Weiss. Although I'm pretty sure your better off." I said.

"I could always try a different approach." He said.

"That would probably help. I remember a while back my sister said. 'Just be yourself, if they don't like you for who you are then they aren't your true friends.' Although I'd say Weiss is still a lost cause." I said.

"Like any other girl here would give me a chance." He said.

"Well drop the act and you never know. It's only like day two. Who knows what the year has in store for us?" I asked.

"Aren't we here for four years?" He asked.

"Same thing." I said.

We walked to the cliffs and took our places on silver panels on the ground.

"Who's the guy in green?" I asked the guy next to me.

"Seriously? That's Headmaster Ozpin. How do you not know that?" The guy asked.

"I'm from Mistral and never saw a picture of him." I said.

Glynda cleared her throat emphasizing for us to be quiet.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." Ozpin said.

"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda said.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said. The first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?

"Yeah, um, sir?" Jaune tried asked.

"Good. Now, take your positions." Ozpin said.

One by one the students were flung into the forest.

I channeled my semblance into my boots causing them to glow blue. As soon as my panel launched me, I released the energy sending me flying even higher while sending an energy blast back at the panel. I continued channeling energy into my boots and releasing it to slow my decent into the forest while getting farther than any other student had gone. Once I saw an opening in the forest, I stopped channeling as much energy in order to land. I channeled a small amount of energy for a final blast to the ground. It left two small craters where I had landed. I started walking towards the clearing I'd seen. I ended up tripping on a root sticking out of the ground.

"Seriously again?" I said as I stood up. I took one of my swords out and slashed at the root. "Pointless, but I feel better."

I kept walking until I reached the temple. There were three other people waiting two of which were holding… large golden chess pieces?

"So, I'm guessing I'm the forth person to get this far?" I asked with my hand behind my head.

"Well there's no one else here is there?" One guy said annoyed. He had short teal hair and wore a white jacket and white pants with a teal shirt under his jacket. He had black and red bands over his wrists.

"Yeah I guess so. I'm guessing one of you is my partner then?" I asked.

"That'd be me baby." A red headed girl said stepping forward. Her hair was about neck length with an odd flower in it. She wore a wine-colored jacket with a black jacket underneath and a long skirt of the same color. "Name's Ariana Lavel, How about you, cutie?" She asked.

"C-Cian Riley." I said.

"Will you cut that out Ariana?" The final person said. He wore a black news boy cap with short green hair sticking out underneath. He also wore a black shirt and pants with a white belt that had purple balls attached to it.

"Oh, I'm just having a little fun with him." Ariana said.

"Both of you cut it out. Our mission is to get the relics back to Ozpin. We have our fourth member now so let's move." The teal haired guy said.

The four of us started walking back with our pieces.

"S-so Ariana was it? Mind if I ask you a few questions?" I asked.

"Shoot sugar." She said.

"R-right, so who are the other two?" I asked.

"Oh, right I guess you weren't properly introduced. Well the one with he rod up his ass is Archer Tealos, and Mr. Boombastic there is Proton Caribe." She said.

"Boombastic?" I asked.

"Those purple things on his belt are different kinds of explosives." She said.

"I see." I said.

"They don't even compare to my Murder Wings though." She said holding up two pistols shaped like black wings. "Put these babies together and they make a beautiful axe." She said.

"You named your weapon?" I asked.

"You don't? They are part of us. They say everything about us." She said.

"I guess I never put any thought into it before." I said.

"Let's see… If I remember right Archers gauntlets are called Burning Death. Protons are… well whatever kind of explosive he's using. He doesn't seem like the creative type anyway." She said.

"I heard that!" Proton said.

"Archer has gauntlets? Oh, is that what his wristbands are?" I asked.

"Yeah when he activates them, they cover her his hands and forearms. They have fire dust built into them. Hence Burning Death." She said.

"Guess I'll have to think about it a name for mine."

"Oooh how about Hack and Slash, Cut and Tear, Kill and Joy, Doom and Despair, Seduce and Strangle! Actually, that one sounds like it's better suited for me. Oh, how about…" She was cut off by Archer.

"Silence. Listen…" He said. We could hear the faint growling closing in. "Enemies incoming." Archer activated his gauntlets.

"Alright kid let's see how you do in a fight." Proton said.

I unsheathed my swords and began channeling energy into them.

"Oh, Light and Saber. No that's just stupid." Ariana said.

"Focus." Archer said.

We were soon surrounded by four beowolves, and three ursa. I swung both of my swords sending blue slashes forward tearing three of the beowolves in half. Proton followed by throwing two bombs towards the ursai. They exploded freezing two of them in place. Archer ran towards the frozen ursai and slashed upwards at their heads. Ariana had shot down the remaining Beowolf and began running at the final ursa while shifting her pistols into their axe mode. She slammed the handle of her axe into the ground and kicked the ursa while doing a backflip. She pulled her axe out of the ground and slashed at its throat, decapitating it.

"That was too easy." Ariana said.

A loud roar cried out as an ursa major and an alpha beowolf smashed their way towards us.

"You were saying?" Proton said annoyed.

"Now it's a party!" Ariana yelled as she charged at the ursa major.

"Cian you and Ariana take the ursa. Proton you're with me." Archer said.

"Got it!" Proton and I said.

I started channeling energy into my swords and swinging towards the ursa sending multiple blue slashes at it. They seemed to do nothing as they hit its armor.

"We need to get it on it's back before we can do any damage." Ariana said.

"Got any ideas?" I asked.

"Follow my lead." She said.

She separated her axe back into its pistol modes and started firing. She jumped up into he trees and continued her assault. The ursa chased after her and tried climbing the tree after her. I replaced my swords and ran towards it channeling energy into my fists. I threw a punch towards the ursa to get its attention. It turned towards me and tried clawing at me. I ducked its attack and sent an uppercut to its jaw with my still charged fist. The energy blast caused the creature to fall on to it's back. Ariana jumped down from the tree she was in and landed on its stomach imbedding its back spikes into the ground. She started firing multiple rounds into the Grimm's neck. It tried to fight back, but any time it made a swing at her I sent an energy fist towards its claws. Soon after the ursa started to fade away.

"Now that was fun!" Ariana yelled.

Archer and Proton joined us after having slain their Grimm as well.

"Any injuries?" Archer asked.

"Aww you do have compassion." Ariana said.

"I don't wanna have to drag back dead weight." Archer said.

"UGGG you're no fun." Ariana said crossing her arms.

"I think were good." I said.

"Good let's keep moving." Archer said leading the way.

As we were walking, I tripped on another root sticking out of the ground.

"Gods Damnit!" I yelled.

Archer and Proton looked at me with a condescending look before continuing forward. Ariana started laughing while offering a hand. I accepted her help and kept walking. The rest of the time we were walking Archer, Proton and I stayed silent while Ariana was making jokes. Once all the students had made it back, we were assembled into the amphitheater to be given our teams.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!" Ozpin announced.

"Were next. Think you can make it up the stair without tripping again?" Proton asked.

"Very funny." I said.

"Archer Tealos. Ariana Lavel. Cian Riley. Proton Caribe. The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team TRAP, led by... Archer Tealos!" Ozpin said.

'Yeah saw that coming.' I thought.

"You want help down the stairs now?" Ariana whispered.

"Screw you." I said.

"Not on the first date honey." She said winking.

"T-that's not what I meant." I said.

"Will you two cut it out." Archer said.

"… Led by Jaune Arc." Ozpin said.

'Did he say led by? Guess Ozpin and Pyrrha have the same… odd mindset. Well good luck to him and his team… Wait how did he get lucky enough to be on the same team as Pyrrha?' I thought.

"And finally, Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!" Ozpin said.

'Well at least I had better luck than Blake and didn't get stuck with the snow witch. Plus, now I know the short black-haired girls name.' I thought.

After we were dismissed, I grabbed my stuff and headed towards my dorm room. Once I had my stuff put away, I decided to pull my book out and start reading.

"Alright listen up." Archer said standing in the middle of the room. "I wanna lay out some ground rules. First, I expect everyone in the room by nine sharp. Second, absolutely no visitors after nine. Third, Lights are to be completely off by ten no exceptions. Fourth…" He was cut off.

"No, no, no, and for whatever four though I'm guessing thirty-seven at least are, no. You may be the team leader but that doesn't mean you're our parent. You can't and will not tell us how we are going to act and behave. We're not some robots for you to control." Ariana said.

"Yeah, I gotta admit, I'm not a big fan of rules. I'm probably gonna try to break them first chance I get." Proton said.

"What do you think Cian?" Ariana asked.

"Well…" She cut me off.

"He agrees. Besides we won't do anything too stupid." Ariana said.

Archer gave an annoyed sigh. "Fine. Just don't do anything to get us kicked out."

"I thought you'd see it my way." Ariana said. She got up and sat on my bed. "So why the mask handsome. Got a shady past you wanna keep hidden" She started tracing the outline of my mask.

"I'm out." Proton said walking out the door.

"N-nothing like that. Its just to honor my dad." I said.

"Oh? Was he some criminal master mind or something?" She asked.

"No, he was a huntsman back in Mistral. He died protecting my village." I said.

"Aww you poor thing. Well if you ever need a shoulder to cry on let me know." She said.

"For fuck sake Ariana can you not act like a succubus for five fucking minutes." Archer asked.

"I could, but the look on people's faces is priceless." She said getting off my bed.

"Normally I wouldn't condone this, but feel free to use a force punch or whatever that blue power of yours is on her." Archer said.

"You are seriously no fun." Ariana said leaving the room.

"Seriously I'll look the other way and deny everything." Archer said.

"Thanks. Ill be fine though. I think. Out of curiosity you seem to like order. Wouldn't Atlas have been a better place for you?" I asked.

"It probably would have been. To late now." He said.

"So why didn't you enroll with them instead?" I asked.

"I knew I'd be chosen as a leader here. I felt like Atlas would have overlooked my skills and given me a rank lower than I was worth." He said.

"So then leading a bunch of misfits sounded like a better idea?" I asked.

"We worked well in the forest. I think things will work out just fine. With me in charge we shouldn't have any issues." He said.

"Look I'm all for cooperation, but clearly the other two aren't as gung-ho on the idea. You may want to ease up on the leader role and try to earn their respect first. Otherwise I'm pretty sure they'll probably just ignore you and cause more issues to spite you." I said.

"This coming from the guy who can't walk a strait line without finding something to trip over." He said.

"Oh the one time." I said.

"By your reaction I'm pretty sure it wasn't the first." He said.

"Whatever. Look I'm willing to try, but you can't just push us around and think we'll listen to everything you say." I said.

"I'll take it under consideration." He said.

'This could be a long four years if you don't.' I thought. I got up and started walking towards the door. "I'm gonna head down to the cafeteria. You wanna come with?"

"I'll be down in a few, I have a few more things to do first." He said.

"Alright, catch you later." I said.

When I entered the cafeteria, I saw teams JNPR and RWBY sitting together. Pyrrha noticed me and called me over. I saw there was a seat next to her, so I grabbed something to eat and sat down next to her.

"Everyone this is my friends Cian." Pyrrha said.

"Weren't you set up next to Blake in the ballroom last night?" Yang asked.

"Yeah that was me." I said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Cian." Ren said.

"Yah what he shed." Nora said wither mouth full.

"Sorry about earlier." Jaune said.

"You both should be." Weiss said.

"Still bitter Pyrrha got teamed up with Jaune and not you?" I asked.

"No!" Weiss yelled.

"That Pyrrha was right and he's the leader?" I asked.

"No!" Weiss yelled again.

"Alright Stop flirting you two." Yang said.

"As if!" Weiss yelled disgusted.

"What she said." I said.

"So, where's the rest of your team?" Ruby asked.

"Archer's still in the room I think. I have no idea where Proton and Ariana went." I said.

"Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear." Ariana said sliding her arms around me.

"Can't you act normal around me once. Please." I said.

"What would the fun in that be?" Ariana said.

I gave a slightly aggravated sigh. "This is Ariana." I said.

"Nice to meet you all." She said.

"Likewise…" Yang said slightly uncomfortably.

Ariana removed her arms from me. "So, is Archer still being a stick in the mud or am I free to head back?"

"I don't know. He should be coming down soon." I said.

"Sweet, I'll catch you later babe." She said heading out of the cafeteria.

"Sooo, are you and her…?" Nora asked.

"No. She just does stuff like that to get a reaction out of people. I'm pretty sure she was just feeding off all of yours." I said.

"Well she definitely got a reaction out of Jaune." Nora said.

"Nora!" Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha yelled.

"I don't get it." Ruby said.

"Well…" Nora started saying before Ren put his hand over her mouth.

"No." Ren said.

"I'll explain it later." Yang said.

"Ugg fine." Ruby said.

"So, we're just gonna ignore the fact Nora was looking there?" I asked.

"Yes!" Everyone except Ruby and Nora yelled.

"Looking where?!" Ruby said upset no one would tell her what was going on.

"Don't worry about it." Pyrrha said.

"Well I'm pretty sure I'm done eating now." Weiss said.

Most of the table agreed and decided to head back to our respective dorms.

"Cian wait." Pyrrha said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I meant to give you my number. Let me know if you need help with anything okay?" She said.

"Think you could get Ariana to stop acting the way she does?" I asked.

"I think that's a little out of my power. However, if you need an excuse to get away from her, I'll try to think of something." She said with a slight laugh.

"Good enough I suppose thanks." I said.

"No problem. Good luck." She said.

"Yeah I'll probably need it." I said.

I went back to my room and saw that no one was there. I sat down on my bed and started reading. A few minutes later Ariana walked out of the bathroom wearing her pajamas.

"So, what did your friends say after I left?" She asked.

"Well they asked if we were together. Otherwise it was just followed by a fairly uncomfortable conversation." I said.

"Yes, I win!" She yelled out.

"You realize that act of yours is gonna get old quick right?" I asked.

"Maybe eventually." She said walking towards me. Once she was next to my bed, she bent over. "Are you saying you don't like when I do this?"

I gave a sigh and turned back to my book. "There is no correct way to answer that question without making things worse." I said.

"Aww Archer is starting to get to you." She said walking over to her bed. "Come on there's nothing wrong with a little teasing."

"Until the wrong person gets the idea." I said.

"You worry too much. Besides we have four years here. Might as well have a little fun along the way." She said.

"Well I think I've had enough fun for the day. I'm gonna turn in." I said.

"Alright. My bed's open if you wake up and need someone to cuddle with." She said.

"Riight. Good night." I said.

"Niight." She said.

'Alright so Archer likes his rules, Ariana is all fun, and I don't know a lot about Proton yet. He seems to get annoyed fairly easy though. This should be an interesting year.' I thought before passing out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone, it's time for another chapter of RWBY: Shining Destiny. I hope you all are enjoying what I'm doing here and if you are, I suggest you check out my other stories RWBY: Red Ice and RWBY: Kitty-Kat. As well as Team BAWM and the other great stories on TheBurningRuler's and Nightmare 6-4's pages.**

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of a loud whistle.

"What the fuck Archer!" Proton yelled.

"Seriously, what is wrong with you?" Ariana asked.

"I will not have my teammates late for class on the first day." Archer said.

I got up and headed for the kitchen. I could still hear them arguing.

"So, you're first thought was an ear shattering whistle?" Proton asked.

"You couldn't use something more normal like maybe a fucking alarm clock?" Ariana asked.

I started making a pot of coffee. 'Looks like our talk went in one ear and out the other.' I thought.

"This was the most efficient. With an alarm you can continue hitting the snooze button, or they may not be loud enough." Archer said.

"What time is it anyway?" Ariana asked grabbing her scroll. "Six o'clock! Why the fuck are we up three hours before classes start?"

"You've gotta be fucking kidding me." Proton said rolling over.

Archer blew his whistle again. "Three hours is plenty of time to get ready and head down for breakfast."

'Swear to god he blows that fucking thing one more time.' I thought.

"Have fun with that. I'm going back to sleep for an hour." Ariana said.

Archer blew his whistle again. "Since you two are moving slowly this morning I'll be taking my shower first. I expect everyone to still be awake when I get done."

I started heading to the kitchen door when the coffee maker finished. I took in a deep breath and started walking back to the coffee maker. I poured a cup for myself and added two sugars to it. I took a sip and took another deep breath. "Ahh life giving coffee." I took my cup and headed back into the main area.

"Seriously first he tries to set up rules then he goes and pulls this shit." Proton said sitting on the edge of his bed.

"It's gonna be a long year if he doesn't knock this shit off." Ariana said.

"I made coffee if anyone's interested." I said.

"How can you stay so calm with how he treats us?" Proton asked.

"Well as far as this morning goes, I've got a sister that would do stuff like this all the time. I just got to the point if I don't get too pissed off before I get some coffee, I'm fine. I almost came out and snapped though."

"Still he treats us like he's the general of an army or something." Ariana said.

"A real fucking Ironwood junior." Proton said.

"It's only been a day, give it a little time. Things might get better." I said.

"I almost with you'd have been made leader instead of him." Ariana said.

"Anyone but him." Proton said.

"Like I said, just give it some time. Things may change." I said.

"I really fucking hope so." Proton said.

"Whichever one of you wants to go next feel free. I'll probably take the longest." Ariana said.

"I'll go. The sooner I'm ready the sooner I can leave." Proton said getting his clothes.

"Works for me, I could use another cup anyway." I said.

"I'll join ya." Ariana said.

Arana and I headed into the kitchen as Archer was coming out of the bathroom.

"I made coffee if you want some." I said.

"Why bother making it now? Just get some in the cafeteria when we go down for breakfast. Save that for the weekends." Archer said.

I sighed and continued into the kitchen.

"Still think things will get better?" Ariana asked.

"Who knows. Some people just suck." I said.

"You got that right." She said.

"What no sex related joke?" I asked.

"It's to early and general buzzkill pissed me off." She said.

"Works for me. You want any cream or sugar for your coffee?" I asked.

"You're setting me up on purpose now." She said with a slight laugh. "Just a couple sugars thanks."

A couple minutes later Proton came in and let us know the shower was free. I grabbed my clothes and headed into the bathroom. After I finished, I headed back into the kitchen and saw Archer sweeping in the kitchen.

"Why are you sweeping already?" I asked.

"Because I was cleaning up your mess after you just left everything. I went to wash the coffee pot and it shattered." He said.

"That's because I let it sit to cool down first. I planned on cleaning up once I was done." I said.

"Next time clean up first." He said.

"How did you break it in the first place?" I asked.

"After I poured out what you and Ariana left, I put some soap in it and ran some water into it." He said.

"Was it warm or hot water?" I asked.

"It started cold…" He started.

"And there's your first mistake. Just go down to breakfast or something and I'll clean it up." I said.

"It's my mess I'll clean it." He said.

"You've done enough already just go." I said.

"Whatever." He said shoving the broom to my chest.

I finished cleaning up the mess and headed to the cafeteria. I got some bacon and eggs and sat by myself.

"Aww look at the poor outcast. Little baby doesn't have any friends and his own teammates don't wanna sit with him." A voice said from behind me.

"We'll be his pals though won't we guys?" another voice said sitting next to me. He had short orange hair.

"I don't know Cardin look at that mask. He might be too cool for us to hang around." A guy with dark blue hair said.

"Yeah saw this coming." I whispered.

"What was that cool guy?" Cardin said.

"Nothing. Look guys I'm just trying to eat before class." I said.

"So are we. Nobody likes to eat alone so we thought we'd join you." Cardin said taking a piece of my bacon.

"Hey Cardin, why don't we help him finish, we wouldn't want him late on his first day right?" A guy with a green mohawk said.

"Good idea Russel." Cardin said picking up my plate. He pushed the plate into my face as he and his teammates began laughing. The four of them got up and started walking away laughing.

I sighed and got up to grab some napkins to clean up the mess they made. After I finished, I headed off to class. I entered the classroom and sat in the back. Ariana joined me shortly after.

"Why do you smell like bacon?" She asked.

"Some jackass decided to dump my breakfast on me." I said.

"Well on the plus side you smell delicious." She said leaning towards me.

"Not in the classroom please. I don't care you do this stuff just please not in the classroom." I said.

"Alright I suppose that's fair." She said with a small laugh. She pulled out a small bottle of perfume. "You'll smell girly, but it'll be better than walking around smelling like bacon all day."

"I'm not sure what's worse." I said.

"I didn't hear a no." She said.

"Older sister remember? She'd do it without asking." I said.

"Well I figured I'd give you an option." She said spaying me a couple times.

"Right now, I'm just hoping classes go by quick. This day has been hell so far." I said.

The door to the classroom opened with team RWBY and JNPR coming in gasping for air. Soon followed by Professor Port. The remaining students took their seats as Port started.

"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night. Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as prey. Ha-ha!" Port exclaimed. The entire classroom was silent. "Uhhhh... And you shall too, upon graduating from this prestigious academy. Now, as I was saying. Vale, as well as the other three kingdoms, are safe havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces. And that's where we come in. Huntsmen! Huntresses! Individuals who have sworn to protect those who cannot protect themselves. From what, you ask? Why, the very world!"

"Ayyyy-yep!" A student said standing up before slowly sitting back down.

"That is what you are training to become. But first: A story. A tale of a young, handsome man... Me! When I was a boy..." Port started to say.

"So much for class going by fast." Ariana whispered.

"...Despite smelling of cabbages, my grandfather was a wise man. 'Peter', he told me..." Port continued

"Please tell me this isn't going to be an everyday thing." I said.

"Ah-heh-hem!" Port exclaimed looking at team RWBY "In the end, the Beowolf was no match for my sheer tenacity, and I returned to my village with the beast in captivity and my head held high, celebrated as a hero! The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable! A true Huntsman must be dependable! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise! So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?"

I shot my hand up hoping it would have something to do with the cage.

"I do sir" Weiss said also raising her hand.

"Well, well, looks like we have two students who believe this. Let's find out if their words meet their actions." Port said.

Weiss looked back to see me having my hand raised as well.

"Both of you get in your combat gear and we'll see if you're up to the task." Port said.

Weiss and I headed to the locker room to get changed.

"You really think you can already call yourself a true huntsman? Just make sure you stay out of my way." Weiss said.

"I think the point will be to work together." I said.

"I don't need help from someone like you." She said.

"Meaning?" I asked.

"An irresponsible child who doesn't even have a basic knowledge of what were doing here. What would possibly make you think you're a better huntsman that I am?" She asked.

"I never said I was. No one has. I don't even know how you got that idea. If that's how you want it though little miss perfect, fine." I said. I put my gloves and boots on and walked out of the locker room.

"Mr. Riley do you plan on fighting without a weapon?" Port asked.

"Possibly." I said.

Weiss came out shortly after and took her stance.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang yelled.

"Fight well!" Blake said waving a small flag.

"Yeah, represent teeeam RWBY!" Ruby yelled.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss yelled lowering her sword.

"Oh, um... Sorry..." Ruby said.

"You got this Cian!" Ariana yelled.

Weiss looked more annoyed. I charged my semblance into my gloves.

"Allllright! Let the match... begin!" Port said knocking the lock off with his axe.

A boarbatusk started charging out at Weiss. She struck the side of the Grimm while rolling out of the way.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" Port said.

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby yelled.

Weiss and the Grimm charged at each other. The grimm moved so its tusks caught Weiss' weapon. Weiss stood in place struggling to get her weapon back.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Port exclaimed.

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss turned to glare at her leader. Distracted the boarbatusk pulled Weiss' weapon from her and tossed it across the room. The grimm then slammed its tusks into Weiss sending her back. I punched the air towards the boarbatusk launching an energy fist towards it. It turned its attention towards me and began charging. I fired another fist at the ground where it was running knocking it off balance. I charged my semblance into my boots and gloves. I grabbed the grimm by the tusks and kicked it in the mouth with my left leg while releasing the energy stored in my boot. I continued holding onto its tusks and flipped the grimm over onto it's back. I flipped backwards and landed in top of it. I lifted my right leg up and stomped on it releasing the energy stored in it. It did some damage but not enough to kill the grimm. Weiss came over and stabbed the bottom of the grimm.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntsman and Huntress-in-training! Although it appears you both have some work to do when it comes to teamwork." Port said.

"In my defense the Princess here told me to stay out of her way because she didn't need help from someone like me. So, when I saw she needed help I jumped in." I said.

"Regardless. You both need to understand there will be situations you won't be able to handle on your own. You need to be willing to accept help. One action no matter how big or small can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat. I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed" Port said.

I walked back to the locker room and replace my gloves and boots. On my way out I saw Ruby looking down talking to Headmaster Ozpin. Once he started walking away, I walked up to her.

"Hey Ruby, everything okay?" I asked.

"Oh… Hey Cian. Yeah, I guess. I just got into a fight with Weiss." She said.

"Oh, so you're having about as good a day as I have been." I said.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

I told her about everything that had happened to me today.

"Cardin really did that to you? What a jerk. Well on the other had at least now you smell nice. I mean not in a creepy way. I mean like the perfume your teammate sprayed smells nice. I mean I'm not like sniffing you that would be weird. I'm just gonna stop now." She said. I started laughing a bit. "Why are you laughing at me?"

"It's just kinda funny seeing it from the other side. Ask Blake I did the same thing yesterday." I said.

"Well it makes me feel a little better about completely embarrassing myself. Anyway, it was cool watching you fight. How did you make your gloves and boots glow blue?" She asked.

"My semblance lets me charge energy into any metal object and release the energy from that object. Normally I have two swords I use as well but since Weiss was being… well Weiss. I figured I'd let her act like she's better and not use them. So, when she lost her weapon, I stepped in. Although now that I think of it, I don't think my gloves or boots are lethal enough. I thought that stomp would have finished it off, but it still had some energy left." I said.

"Well if you want, I could probably help you with that at some point. I built Crescent Rose so it shouldn't be too hard to modify them." She said.

"Crescent Rose?" I asked.

"Oh yeah I suppose you wouldn't have seen her yet. She's the most awesome weapon ever! She's a customizable high-impact sniper rifle combined with an awesome scythe!" She exclaimed.

"That sounds awesome!" I exclaimed.

"She's my beautiful sweetheart." She said.

"You called it Crescent Rose, right? So, you named your weapon too?" I asked.

"Of course. Are you saying you didn't?" She asked.

"I never thought about it. I mean I know they are important, but I've just never thought about naming them." I said.

"Well maybe I can help you with that too." She said.

"That'd be awesome. For now though I say we get some lunch. I'm starving for some reason." I said. We started heading to the cafeteria, I stopped along the way to look out the window. "Hey Ruby quick question."

"What's up?" She asked.

"We started class in the morning, right?" I asked.

"Yeah why?" she asked.

"How long were we in class? It's almost night!" I exclaimed.

"That's a good question…" She said.

We decided to ignore it and continued to the cafeteria. We got our food and sat with the remaining members of her team and team JNPR.

"Hey Rubes, Cian, you two seen Weiss?" Yang asked.

"I-I think she said something about going to the library to study." Ruby said.

"Really? She could at least get some food first." Yang said.

"She did seem like something was bothering her. Maybe she just needed some time to herself." Blake said.

I looked at Ruby confused. She looked back at me and made a small gesture to not say anything.

"There you are sugar." Ariana said wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Not now Ariana. You know I've had a bad day." I said.

"Alright you're off the hook." She said sitting next to me.

"Besides you may wanna make a better impression on the rest of my friends since you gave them the wrong idea yesterday." I said.

"Oh, you're no fun, but if you insist. In case any of you were curious we're not together. Meaning both of us are very much on the market." Ariana said with a wink towards Jaune causing him to blush.

'And now she's got a new target.' I thought. "Like I said last night she just likes doing this stuff to get a reaction from people."

"Well I can probably guess who her next victim is." Nora said pointing to Jaune.

"Nora." Ren said.

"What? We all know what happened yesterday." Nora said.

"Hold up. You didn't tell me something else happened." Ariana said.

"Yes, I did. I said there was a fairly uncomfortable conversation." I said.

"Speaking of which you never explained anything like you said you would." Ruby said looking at Yang.

"Trust me you're better off being kept in the dark." I said.

"No share it I wanna know what I missed." Ariana said.

"Well after you left…" Nora started before Ren put his hand over her mouth.

"We are not having this discussion during a meal again." Ren said.

"Yeah maybe we should change the subject." Jaune said.

"Why do you wanna change it so badly blondie?" Ariana said leaning forward.

"No. Not here. If you and Nora wanna talk about it go to another table." I said.

"Oh, great idea!" Nora exclaimed as she grabbed Ariana and pulled her away to another table.

"That was a bad idea wasn't it?" I asked.

"Most likely." Ren said.

As the conversation turned back to something more interesting, I noticed Pyrrha seemed down about something.

"Hey Pyrrha, you okay?" I asked.

"Oh, Yeah. I'm fine nothing to worry about." Pyrrha said perking up a little.

"Look if it's about Ariana I'm sorry. I can try to talk to her, but I can't promise anything." I said.

"It's not that. I mean it was an awkward thing to talk about, but it's not a big deal." Pyrrha said.

"So, then something is up, but it doesn't have to do with her?" I asked.

"What? No, I mean…" She said before giving a small sigh. "I'll text you about it later." She said quietly.

"Well that was interesting." Ariana said as her and Nora rejoined the table.

"Drop it." I said.

"I will." Ariana said smiling.

"I think I'm gonna head to the library myself. I'm gonna need all the help I can get." Jaune said standing up. He started heading towards the garbage to get rid of his tray when Cardin stuck his foot out and tripped him. Jaune fell face first into what was left on his tray.

"Jaune!" Pyrrha yelled out as she went over to help him up.

"That the guy from this morning?" Ariana asked in a serious tone.

"Yeah that's Cardin." I said.

"Good to know." Ariana said.

"Whatever you're thinking, no." I said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Ariana said.

"Didn't you say he did something like that to you earlier Cian?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah… At least I know he's not just targeting me." I said.

"That doesn't make what he's doing right." Yang said.

"No, but the more enemies he makes the more people that will rise up when someone finally stands up to him." I said.

"Can we just have one meal that doesn't end up being uncomfortable." Blake asked.

"So, I'm guessing everyone else is done eating also?" Yang asked.

Everyone still at the table agreed. We got rid of our trays and headed our own ways. I saw Pyrrha on my way back and decided to catch up to her.

"Pyrrha wait up!" I yelled. She stopped and turned toward me.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

"For the most part yeah. What about you? You said something was bothering you. There's still some time before curfew, do you wanna head into town with me for a bit? Archer broke my coffee pot this morning so I've gotta go get a new one." I said.

"Sure, but how did he break it?" She asked.

"I'm guessing he's never had to clean one before." I said.

On the way to the airship we passed Cardin and he tripped me.

"You know, if it wasn't for the fact I have a sister who did stuff like this to me all the time I'd probably be more upset." I said.

"There's a difference though. That's just what siblings do. He's nothing but a bully." She said helping me up.

"At least this time I don't have eggs all over me." I said as we headed outside.

"Do you mean he's picked on you already before?" She asked.

"Yeah this morning he smashed my breakfast in my face. I smelled like bacon until Ariana sprayed me with perfume." I said.

"You let her spray you with perfume?" She asked.

"My sister did it all the time. I'm not really bothered by it." I said.

"I'm sorry, but your sister doesn't seem like a very nice person." She said.

"You'd think so, but she only really started doing that stuff after dad died. I think it was just a way for her to cope with it. She could be really nice when she wanted to be though. She'd always apologize if she thought she went too far. I think that's how I get along so well with Ariana. They kinda do the same thing, although to different degrees. You guys haven't seen it, but she can be nice too. She just likes getting laughs from other people's reactions. Even if her methods for getting said laughs are a little… interesting." I said.

"They certainly are…" She said as we got into the airship.

"So, she did do something that bothered you." I said.

"Not exactly…" She said.

"So, then what's going on?" I asked.

"I guess… seeing Jaune get treated like that. It hurts for some reason." She said.

"So, you've got a crush on Jaune?" I asked.

"What? No, it's nothing like that I mean. It bothers me to see that he keeps getting picked on." She said.

"Because you like him." I said.

"Of course I like him. We're friends and teammates." She said.

"That's not what I meant, and you know it. Besides doesn't he like Weiss anyway?" I said as we got out of the airship and headed into town.

"Which is another reason I'm worried about him. I don't want him to keep trying for a girl he can't see doesn't want anything to do with him." She said.

"I know it's only been a couple days, but aren't you kinda in the same boat? I mean he was pretty rude to you yesterday." I said.

"He's not as bad now." She said.

"Well if anything maybe just give it a little time. Its only been a couple days after all and were gonna be here for four years. If its destiny for you two to be together then it'll happen." I said.

She gave a small laugh. "I thought you didn't believe in destiny."

"True, but you do. Just because I don't believe in it doesn't mean I should bash other people for their beliefs." I said.

"Fair enough." She said.

We found a small shop and went in to buy the new pot.

"So other than Cardin how are you liking Beacon so far?" She asked.

"Well I'm waiting for my team to start fighting with each other. Meating you, Ruby and everyone else has been fun though. Even if Ariana keeps making everyone uncomfortable. Really hope that doesn't come back and bite me." I said.

"Well today didn't seem as bad at least." She said.

"That's because I made the mistake of telling her and Nora to go to another table. I can only imagine what those two have in store for Jaune." I said.

"I have a feeling Ren will stop Nora from going to far, or at least try to." She said.

"Nora is the least of my worries. Ariana is the bigger problem. I think she has something planned for Cardin too." I said.

"Why do you say that?" She asked.

"She had an uncharacteristically serious tone when she asked if he was the one who messed with me this morning." I said.

"Are you really worried about Cardin?" She asked.

"Its not that I'm worried about Cardin. Its more that I'm worried what she's thinking." I said.

"Maybe it won't be as bad as your worrying about. Just to be safe though it may not be a bad idea to talk to her." She said.

"I can try, doesn't mean it'll do anything. Seems like what I say goes it one ear and out the other with my teammates." I said.

"It can't be that bad." She said.

"I told Archer if he wants our respect so bad, he needed to lighten up on being so strict as a leader. Next morning, he wakes us up with a whistle. I'm pretty sure if I hadn't been having such a bad day Ariana wouldn't have lightened up as much. I haven't talked to Proton much, but it seems like he just doesn't care about anything." I said.

"Well it's still early maybe things will change." She said.

"I hope so." I said. As we boarded the airship back to Beacon. "Just for curiosity sake how would you feel if by some miracle it did work out between Weiss and Jaune?"

"Id be happy for him, but I'd be more shocked than anything." She said with a small laugh.

"I'm pretty sure everyone would be shocked." I said.

"Probably. So, since you figured out how I feel about Jaune, has anyone caught your eye yet?" She asked.

"I wouldn't really I'm interested in anyone yet. I don't wanna get my hopes up to high in case the person I like turns out to like someone else." I said.

"I'm not sure if you're being honest or making a comment about Jaune." She said.

"Well I was being honest, but it works both ways. Don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't wanna be in your position worrying about someone who doesn't feel the same about me." I said.

"Your fine, it is kinda silly to be worrying about someone you know doesn't feel the same." She said.

We arrived at Beacon and started heading towards the dorms where we went our separate ways. I entered my dorm and Proton and Ariana were sleeping with Archer still awake.

"Where were you?" Archer asked.

"Do you actually care or are you just going to throw a fit again?" I asked.

"I was waiting for you to get back so I could apologize for this morning." He said.

"Well maybe don't start an apology with 'Where were you' like you're my mom." I said.

He sighed and shook his head before grabbing something from under his bed.

"I'm sorry about how I handled things this morning, so I went out and bought you a new coffee pot. Happy now?" He said.

"Again phrasing. That made it sound like you aren't sorry at all and only did it because you had to not because you wanted to. Which with the way you've been acting lately, it wouldn't surprise me if that's how you actually felt." I said.

"I'm trying damnit!" He exclaimed.

"Look if you wanna yell let's at least take it to the kitchen or something since the other two are trying to sleep. Otherwise give me the damn pot so I can wash them both and put them away before I go to sleep." I said.

"Both?" He asked.

"Yeah if you must know I was out getting a new one with Pyrrha since I figured if I wanted it replaced, I'd have to do it myself." I said.

"You're close with Ms. Nikos?" He asked.

"We're friends if that's what you're asking. Not sure why you care." I said.

"Merely an observational note." He said.

"Now you're just sounding creepy." I said.

"Any form of information can prove useful no matter how trivial." He said.

"Dude, stop." I said grabbing the bag from him and heading to the kitchen.

I took the two pots out and washed them as quietly as possible. Once I finished, I changed into pajamas and tried to get some sleep. My scroll vibrated with a message from Pyrrha.

"I talked to Nora and it sounds like they don't have anything planned for Jaune. She was smiling the whole time so I'm not sure if she was lying or not." She said.

"Who knows. Ariana was asleep by the time I got back so I couldn't talk to her. Archer somewhat apologized for this morning. It seemed kinda insincere and forced, but he did buy me a new coffee pot." I replied.

"Baby steps. We should probably get some sleep. Goodnight Cian." She said.

"I suppose you're right. Goodnight Pyrrha." I replied.

I was about to put my scroll down when it went off again. This time by a number I didn't recognize.

"Hey I hope you don't mind but I got your number from Blake." They said.

"I was going to wait to talk to you tomorrow, but I'm trying to study and I reeeally don't wanna." They said.

"Blake told me how you called her beautiful and cute yesterday. You said you were babbling like an idiot to her yesterday, but I didn't expect it you'd have said stuff like that." They said.

"I just realized that I totally messaged you without knowing if you were even awake or not. Sorry." They said.

"I also just realized I never said who this was so I'm sorry again." They said.

"So, I'm guessing this is Ruby?" I replied.

"OMG I still forgot to say! Yes this is Ruby again I'm sorry!" She said.

"It's fine lol" I replied.

"So Weiss apologized for our fight. She even made me a cup of coffee!" She said.

"She can be mean sometimes okay a lot. But she can be nice too." She said.

"Apparently she even helped Jaune with some of his homework! Can you believe that?" She said.

"Really? That doesn't seem like something I'd ever hear." I replied.

"Right!?" She said.

"I gotta go. Weiss yelled at me again. :(" She said.

"lol good luck. I'll talk to you tomorrow." I replied.

I fell asleep shortly after. The next morning, I woke up to my alarm going off. I rubbed my eyes and looked over to see Ariana and Proton also just waking up.

"Ugh what time is it?" Ariana asked.

"Seven thirty am" I said.

"Good morning." Archer said coming out of the bathroom.

"No General Archer six am wake up call this morning?" Proton asked.

"I figured I'd see how you do with waking up on your own. If I find it proficient, I'll cease with waking you up as I did yesterday. If not, I'll continue." He said before walking out of the room.

"Was that… was he showing some form of kindness?" Ariana asked.

"If it means he's gonna lighten up I'm not gonna complain. You two can go first I'm gonna pass out for another half hour." Proton said laying back down.

"All yours Cian." Ariana said.

"If you say so." I said.

'Maybe he was being sincere last night' I thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Welcome to another new chapter of RWBY: Shining Destiny. No extravagant intro this time. If you like this check out my other stories. Give some love to TheBurningRuler and Nightmare 6-4. Heads up this chapter goes into a bit of a darker area.**

 **Quick shout out** **CyanideLegend99. I really appreciate that and I have no intention of stopping this story any time soon.**

I found Jaune in the cafeteria before class sitting by himself. I grabbed my breakfast and decided to sit with him.

"So, are you sure it's really a good idea to be sitting alone with how Cardin has been treating us?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Jaune he's picking on me too you don't need to pretend." I said.

"What is he doing to you?" He asked.

"Well from the look of it, pretty much the same thing he's doing to you." I said.

"Oh…" He said.

"Well I mean it could be worse I suppose." I said.

"Yeah…" He said.

"So… Oh I hear you were able to get the Ice Queen to help you with your homework last night." I said.

"Where did you hear that?" He asked.

"Ruby told me." I said

"Yeah, I'm still kinda surprised she agreed to it." He said.

"See I told you being yourself would get you farther than whatever that act was." I said.

"Yeah I suppose." He said.

"Well if it isn't my two best friends." Cardin said as he and his team sat next to us. "How's it going guys?"

"Can't you just leave us alone Cardin?" Jaune asked.

"Aren't friends supposed to hang out together?" Cardin said.

"They are, so why are you here?" I asked.

"Why the hostility today guys?" Cardin asked.

"Maybe they're just not awake yet." Russel said.

"Yeah they're cranky this morning." Sky said.

"Well we can't have our friends cranky on such a beautiful morning right guys?" Cardin asked.

"Right" Dove, Russel and Sky agreed.

Cardin grabbed both our trays and dumped them on our heads as Russel threw a cup of water in each of our faces. The four of them headed off to class.

"I really don't wanna lower myself to their level, but we may have to if we want them to stop." I said.

"Its not like they'll pick on us forever. We might as well just let it go." Jaune said.

"I wanna agree with you, but I mean we're huntsman too. We're just as good as them we shouldn't be letting them treat us like this." I said.

"I guess…" He said.

"Well for now let's just go get cleaned up. I'm sure Ariana will let us use her perfume again." I said.

"Wait, again?" He asked.

"Cardin did the same this to me yesterday. She sprayed me with some of her perfume so I wouldn't smell like bacon all day." I said.

"I'm not really sure which would be worse." He said as we headed for the bathroom.

"Well I'm used to it since my sister would spray me with it all the time back home." I said.

"Most of mine would too. Can't say I enjoyed it though." He said.

"You have sisters too?" I asked as we started debreakfasting ourselves.

"Seven." He said.

"Wow I thought one was bad. I can't imagine the torture you went though." I said.

"It wasn't quite as bad as you'd expect. I was just forced to play dress up… a lot." He said.

"You too? Glad I wasn't the only one subjected to that." I said.

"Bunny costume, princess outfits, Even got dressed up as a baby once." Jaune said.

"Never got put in the princess outfit thankfully, but I've had to deal with the others. Especially the baby one when her friends would come over… Those were dark days." I said. with a small laugh.

We finished and headed to the classroom. As soon as I entered, I looked for Ariana and we walked over to her.

"Morning boys." She said before sniffing the air. "Let me guess, another one of Cardin's morning acts of 'friendship?'" She asked.

"Yeah, he got us both this time." I said.

She sighed. "You two could just stand up to him you know. Instead of smelling like a girl in class every day."

"True, but if I sit next to you people will just think you put too much on rather than think it's coming from me." I said.

"Unless we end up separated because someone volunteers to fight a boarbatusk in class." She said.

"Fair point. Can we just get this over with?" I asked.

"Alright let's go outside the classroom so it's not as obvious." She said.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this." Jaune said.

"Too bad cutie." Ariana said dragging him out by his arm.

She sprayed the two of us a couple times before we started heading back to the classroom. I sat by Ariana again while Jaune sat Two rows down in a more vacated area. Shortly after he sat down the rest of his team showed up.

"Jaune, why do you smell like perfume?" Pyrrha asked.

Jaune pointed towards Ariana and me. I gave a weak smile and rubbed the back of my neck. Before she could ask Professor Goodwitch came in to start class.

"Good morning students. We'll start todays lesson by having one on one matches. We'll start with Yang Xiao Long vs Cian Riley."

Yang and I headed to the locker room to change. Once we came back out, we took our positions and waited for Goodwitch to give the signal.

"You got this Yang!" Blake yelled.

"Show her who's boss Cian!" Ariana yelled.

"Begin." Goodwitch said.

I immediately began charging my semblance into my gloves and boots. Yang fired four shots from her gauntlets while charging towards me. I fired two punches at her first two shots and dodged the other two. I jumped up for a spin kick to send two shots from my boots at her. She dodged one and fired a shot at the other. I charged energy into my swords as she closed in on me. She started in on me with a flurry of punches and I blocked each one with my arms. I charged into my boots again and sent a shot to her abdomen knocking her back a couple steps. I ran towards her and sent a roundhouse kick with my still charged boot to her head knocking her back. She got back up and continued firing at me as she charged at me. The closer she got she started glowing yellow. I had managed to dodge her shots and charged my fist as it collided with hers. The force of the impact sent me flying back while she only slid a couple feet back. She started running at me as I drew my swords. Before I could use them, she kicked them out of my hands and fired a shot to my chest. Knocking me back to the ground.

"That's enough." Goodwitch said.

I checked the score to see it was forty-seven to nineteen. Yang walked over and offered me a hand. I accepted and we headed back to the locker room.

"So, if you can fight like that why do you put up with Cardin?" She asked.

"I guess it doesn't really bother me. If the bullying bothered me that much, I probably wouldn't still be wearing this mask. Plus considering what I've had to deal with between Ariana and my sister. What Cardin does is nothing. I'd rather come to class smelling like a girl than have to put up with my sister trying to put pony tails in my hair." I said.

"That honestly doesn't sound as bad." She said.

"Rubber bands, and it was never long enough to be really possible. So, it was mostly a bunch of hair pulling." I said.

"Still, you give him a fight like that, and I can't see him bothering you much longer." She said.

"I know, but is it really worth going down to his level?" I asked.

"No, I suppose I wouldn't wanna degrade myself like that either. Still, it's hard to watch a friend go through that." She said.

"You're free to break his legs any time." I said.

"Don't temp me, or give Nora permission." She said.

"Then don't worry about it, I'm not. I appreciate you and everyone else looking out for Jaune and I, but it's our fight. I don't feel like it's a fight worth having and Jaune… well I'm sure he's got his reasons." I said.

"Any idea why he puts up with it?" She asked.

"No clue, I think he's just hoping eventually they move on to someone else and forget about him." I said.

"If that's the case he'd better hope it's sooner rather than later." She said.

"To each his own." I said as we headed back to the classroom.

The next few fights went on with Ruby facing off against Pyrrha in a mostly one-sided fight with Ruby getting a few hard shots in. Ultimately Pyrrha walked away with the victory after a final score of seventy-four to eighteen. Next was Ariana versus a girl named Makoto Breeze. Ariana seemed to toy with her a lot which cost her quite a bit of her aura. She turned the battle around fairly quickly and came out with the win at thirty-nine to seven. After classes were over I made my way out to the fountain in the courtyard. I pulled my scroll out and called mom.

"Hello." Mom said.

"Hey mom, How's everything going back home?" I asked.

"You know nothing happens around here. More importantly how are things going there? Have you made any friends yet? Are you eating right? You're remembering to change your underwear right?" She asked.

I gave a small sigh. "Multiple, yes, and yes."

"I figured, But I'm your mom I have to say those things. How are classes going?" She asked.

"Port's class is alright, it would be better if he could stay on topic. Had my first combat class today. I didn't win, but it was close for most of it. I haven't had a lot of time with Dr. Oobleck or Professor Peach yet. I know Oobleck teaches a history class, but I don't really know what Peach teaches. It wasn't outlined very well." I said.

"Just make sure you don't fall behind. Not that I'm not happy to hear from you, but is there a reason you called?" She asked.

"I said I'd call." I said.

"Yeah, but I didn't actually expect you to. I was worried something was wrong. You don't need to worry about calling me. Go have fun with your friends." She said.

"Alright, but now you can't say I never call." I said.

"Yes, I can I'm still your mom. Aelita wants to talk to you." She said.

"What's up Dork ready to come home?" Aelita asked.

"Let's see friends who like me. Sister who tortures me. Think I'll tough it out." I said.

"I'm offended. I never tortured you." She said.

"Then what would you call it?" I asked.

"Sisterly love of course." She said.

"Riight." I said.

"I'm gonna hand the phone back to mom once you're done call my scroll." She whispered. "Alright Mom you can have him back. I'm gonna head to Jessica's."

"Alright have fun. She's just as much a handful as ever." Mom said.

"No kidding." I said.

"Well I won't keep you from your friends any more. Good luck, stay safe." She said.

"I'll do my best." I said.

"I know you will. Goodbye, love you." She said.

"Love you too." I said before hanging up. I called my sisters scroll right away.

"Yo" Aelita said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"Just wanted to make sure everything was going alright I know if something is bothering you, you aren't going to tell Mom to keep her from worrying." She said.

"Its going fine. I've got at least eight new friends so far. One kinda friend. I'm not sure what I consider her yet. And only one team that's picking on me. No worse than you ever did." I said.

"Okay two things first off a girl you don't know what to consider? You'd better explain that." She said.

"She's on my team. She likes to make people uncomfortable just to get a reaction out of them. The way she does it though is by flirting with them, but it's like incredibly sexual. I'm not sure I consider her a friend yet, but she's my teammate so I guess I can't really hate her." I said.

"Just make sure you tell her to back off if she does something you don't like. I'm the only one who gets to pick on you like that… That came out wrong." She said.

"I'm just gonna pretend you said what you meant to avoid making that any more awkward than you already made it." I said.

"Anyway, speaking of people picking on you what do you mean you have a team picking on you?" She asked.

"One of the teams has been tripping me and throwing food on me. Like I said it's nothing compared to what I had to deal with after living with you." I said.

"You're gonna stand up to them, right?" She asked.

"I didn't plan on it." I said.

"Why." She asked in a serious tone.

"Like I said. I've gone though worse with you so…" I said before she cut me off.

"Damnit Cian you can't let people walk all over you just because I used to fuck with you. Do you think Dad would tell you to ignore them?" She asked.

"Don't start…" I said.

"You wanted to be a huntsman. Fucking act like one. Don't let people bully you. Give them a reason not to fuck with you. You let them walk all over you now you'll lose any respect you have and more and more people will continue to take advantage of you and walk all over you." She said.

I didn't say anything. I wanted to, but I couldn't get the words to come out the way I wanted.

"I know you didn't get a lot of experience with hat back home, but you're not a kid anymore. You need to stand up for yourself if you want to be taken seriously as a huntsman. You kept saying you wanted to be like Dad, right? We both know if he were in your situation, he wouldn't be taking this. Maybe I should have gone easier on you and maybe I should have had this conversation sooner. Maybe then you wouldn't be so afraid to stand up to someone. I know it's not generally in your nature to retaliate against something like this, but you're going to have to get used to it if you wanna be a huntsman." She said.

"Yeah I know. That doesn't mean it's easy." I said.

"I know, but you're in the big leagues now. You can't just continue putting up with shit like that. It's a little food and some tripping now, but how far will you let it go?" She asked.

"Alright, I'll try to deal with it." I said.

"No, you'll try to keep up with your grades. You WILL deal with this." She said.

"Alright." I said.

"I wanna see you succeed where I couldn't." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Nothing don't worry about it. I gotta go. The next time I talk to you I better hear this situation isn't a problem anymore." She said.

"If you say so." I said hanging up.

'Where she couldn't? What does that mean?' I thought as I started heading back to the dorms.

As I entered the building, I saw Cardin and his team walking away from a girl that was on the ground crying. She had shoulder length brown hair with fox ears folded downward and was wearing a light blue long sleeve cutoff sweatshirt with a pink crop top underneath and a white skirt. I walked over and knelt down next to her.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"What do you think?" She said hiding her face.

"You're right, stupid question." I said.

"I'm fine just… leave me alone." She said.

"I can't just leave you here like this. Let's at least go somewhere else. You don't need people coming by and making rumors about you." I said.

I helped her up and we walked outside.

"So, what did Cardin and his goons do this time?" I asked

"I'd… rather not talk about it…" She said.

"That's fine. Anything I can do to help?" I asked.

"Nothing you'd probably be willing to do…" She whispered.

"Never know until you ask." I said.

"Kill that son-of-a-bitch." She said.

"Well… I wasn't expecting that. Look he picks on me too, but that's no reason to want him dead." I said.

"Near fatal injury?" she asked.

"Still might be a little far." I said.

"Full body paralysis?" she asked.

"Okay, I wasn't gonna press this, but what did he do that was so bad for you to want this?" I asked.

"First let me ask you something. Why do you even care? We don't know each other, you just happened to stumble across me when you walked by." She said.

"Well that jerk has been bullying me and one of my friends. I saw another victim of his and I wanted to help." I said.

"Then why didn't you go after him instead?" She asked.

"Cause there's no point in going after him if I don't know the reason I'd be going after him. You can't go into a fight like this with no prior knowledge of the situation. Besides four against one I'm not going to win." I said.

"I guess that makes sense. I just wish he'd leave me alone already…" She said tears starting to form in her eyes again.

"Tell me what he did and maybe I can help." I said.

She looked around before pulling me further from campus. "You know I should have no reason to trust you since I hardly know you right?" I nodded. "Then I want you to swear on your life that you won't tell anyone about this."

"I swear." I said.

"He's been… sexually assaulting me…" She said.

"What? I don't mean to sound insensitive, but you're training to become a huntress how do you just let him get away with that?" I asked.

"You think I want him doing that? I hate it I hate him. I hate that my teammates don't even seem to care. Besides he's bullying you too, how can you let him do it to you?" She asked.

"Yeah that's fair. Wait, what do you mean your teammates don't care?" I asked.

"They think I'm just saying this stuff to get attention…" She said.

"You've gotta be kidding me. Don't you have any friends you could go to for help?" I asked.

"No. I don't." She said.

"Have you tried telling any of the professors or Ozpin?" I asked.

"Do you know how hard it was just telling you?" She asked.

"Alright then why did you tell me instead of them?" I asked.

"I don't know…" She said dropping to the ground again.

"Hey, I'm sorry. This is serious though you can't just let him get away with this." I said.

"I know, but I don't know what to do…" She said.

"I think you should at least inform one of the teachers so they can look into it in case he's doing this to anyone else." I said.

"Okay… I'll do it tomorrow…" She said.

"Do you want someone to go with you?" I asked.

"No… I can do it." She said.

"Alright let me know if you change your mind or just want someone to talk to." I said.

"So, I'm guessing you want my number then?" She asked.

"That would probably be a good idea. It's a good thing you mentioned it I'd have probably forgotten." I said.

We exchanged numbers and started heading back to the dorms.

"So, tell me again… why are you being so nice to me?" She asked.

"I saw another of Cardin's victims, and I wanted to help. I just never expected Cardin would go this far." I said.

"So, you had no other motive? You're not just trying to lure me into a false sense of security or anything?" She asked.

"What? No! Never!" I said with a slightly raised voice.

"Alright calm down." She said.

"Well I don't know about you, but I'm getting kinda hungry. How about we head to the cafeteria?" I asked.

"I don't know…" She said.

"We'll sit with my friends. They can be pretty weird, but they're trustworthy." I said.

"If you say so…" She said.

We made our way to the cafeteria and I saw team RWBY and JNPR already eating together. We got our food together and sat next to them.

"Hey Cian. Who's your new friend?" Ruby asked.

"This is… um…" I started saying.

"I'm Hailey Sakura." She said.

"Did you really not know her name?" Blake asked.

"I never got around to asking it." I said.

"Didn't you look at what I put in your scroll?" Hailey asked.

"I was going to… eventually." I said.

"You got her number before you even got her name? I'll admit I'm impressed." Yang asked.

"It never came up." I said.

"Well with how well the two of you seem to be getting along you'd think it would have come up at some point." Pyrrha said.

"Unless they were having too much fun." Nora said.

"Nora!" Ren and I yelled.

"It wasn't anything like that. He just helped me out after Cardin was bullying me…" She said.

"You too? How many other students are they attacking?" Yang asked.

"Someone has to put an end to this." Ren said.

"Well in that case!" Nora said standing up before Ren pulled her back down.

"Without getting kicked out." Ren said.

"So, was he picking on you because of your ears?" Blake asked.

"He has in the past…" Hailey said.

"I saw him push her down after knocking some books out of her hand. So, I helped her pick them up." I said.

"That jerk." Ruby said.

"Hey, lets change the subject. Pyrrha and Ruby had a good match in class today." I said.

"Are you kidding? She totally kicked my butt." Ruby said.

"You did better than you're giving yourself credit for." Pyrrha said.

"Considering you she's a four-time Mistral Regional Tournament champion you should be grateful you did as well as you did." Weiss said.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" I asked.

"For the Ice Queen yes." Yang said.

"Hey!" Weiss said.

After we finished eating Pyrrha and I walked with Hailey back to her room.

"You know you guys didn't have to walk me back right?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah, but we're usually just to nice for our own good right Pyrrha?" I asked.

"Right." Pyrrha said.

"Well I guess I'll see you guys in class tomorrow." She said.

"Looking forward to it." I said.

She went into her room and Pyrrha and I started heading back to our dorms.

"Why did you lie about what actually happened?" Pyrrha asked.

"You saw through that? She made promise me not to say what actually happened. I don't intend to break that promise." I said.

"You know we can't help if we don't know the truth." She said.

"I know… It's a difficult situation. I convinced her to talk to one of the professors tomorrow. I think just having a few extra friends for now will help some. She seemed a little better after we changed the subject." I said.

"Hopefully she'll remember to talk to someone. They can't keep getting away with this." She said.

"I hope…" I said.

After I returned to my dorm, I saw a message from Hailey.

"You didn't tell Pyrrha what actually happened did you?" She asked.

"No. She asked but, I told her you made me promise not to say anything. Pyrrha isn't one to push the envelope but she seems worried about you. Just make sure you tell someone tomorrow so we can hopefully put an end to this." I replied.

"Alright. I'll try…" She said.

After that I tried to get some sleep. A week had passed by, and Hailey hadn't told anyone about what was going on. Things had only seemed to get worse. Cardin was getting more violent with his bullying towards Jaune and I. I don't know what he was doing to Hailey, but she seemed to only get more and more depressed. Today for combat class Pyrrha and I decided to sit by the door so we could stop her from leaving.

We left the classroom and waited for Hailey to walk out. As soon as she did I grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

"Not again. Please just leave me alone" Hailey said. closing her eyes.

"Hailey calm down." I said.

She opened her eyes and saw me and Pyrrha. "What are you guys doing?"

"You promised us you were going to tell one of the professors what's been going on. We didn't want it to come to this, but it's been a week and things have only been getting worse." I said.

"We just want to help you. We want this to stop just as much as you do." Pyrrha said.

"Did you tell her?" Hailey asked scarred.

"He didn't tell me anything. We can see that whatever is going on is causing you a lot of mental anguish though. We don't want to see you getting hurt." Pyrrha said.

Once all the students had exited the classroom, we walked her in.

"Do you three have a question?" Goodwitch asked.

"Not so much a question." Pyrrha said.

"We have something important we need to talk to you about." I said shutting the door to the classroom.

"We'd like to keep it anonymous if at all possible." Pyrrha said.

"I'm listening." Goodwitch said.

"Cardin has been bullying multiple students Including myself, Jaune and Hailey. It has only been getting worse over the last week." I said.

"Is this true Ms. Sakura?" Goodwitch asked.

"Yes…" Hailey said.

"What has been going on?" Goodwitch asked.

"It started out just stupid stuff like name calling and tripping people. He's been progressively been getting more violent. He's pushed people into walls, slammed their heads down into their lunch trays. Among other things…" I said.

"You've all witness this?" Goodwitch asked.

"Hailey and I are victims. Although what he's been doing to her is much worse." I said.

"Cian…" She whispered.

"Is this true?" Goodwitch asked.

Hailey didn't say anything.

"Ms. Sakura if something is going on you need to be able to tell us." Goodwitch said.

"Hailey I'm sorry, but if you don't tell her I will. We can't let this continue." I said.

"…I know… He's… been… sexually assulting me…" Hailey said standing up. She undid the button on her vest and took it off revealing bruises all over her arms. Pyrrha placed her hands over her mouth in shock.

Goodwitch looked over her arms. "How long has this been going on?"

"… since about the second day of classes." Hailey said.

"Why haven't you told anyone until now?" Goodwitch asked.

"I was scared…" Hailey said.

"How long have you two known about this?" Goodwitch asked.

"I'm just know finding out. I knew something was up not this." Pyrrha said.

"I've known for about a week." I said.

"Why didn't you say something?" Goodwitch asked.

"I made him promise not to…" Hailey said.

Professor Goodwitch sighed. "I'll inform Ozpin about this and we'll look into it. In the mean time I recommend having someone with you when you're not in your dorm. Would you two be willing to help out with that?"

"Absolutely." Pyrrha said.

"Of course." I said.

"Very well. Ms. Nikos if you wouldn't mind taking Ms. Sakura to the infirmary to get looked at better. I'll write a note, so she isn't asked too many questions. I'd like a word with Mr. Riley." Goodwitch said.

"Yes, mam." Pyrrha said.

Hailey put her vest back on and the two of them left the classroom.

"Mr. Riley I understand wanting to respect your friends wishes, but something this serious should have been reported as soon as you found out." Goodwitch said.

"I know, but I wanted her to at least know she had someone she could trust. It sounded like I wasn't the only one she told, but the first to believe her." I said.

"Then let me ask why you believe her if others don't?" She asked.

"Because I first found her crying as Cardin and his team were walking away. They've been bullying me, Jaune and who knows how many others. So, I had no reason not to believe her." I said.

"I see. As I said. I'll be informing Ozpin about these incidents and we will be looking into them. If anything else happens you need to let us know." She said.

"I will." I said.

"Good. You're free to go." She said.

I headed for the infirmary and passed Ruby along the way.

"Hey Cian." She said.

"What's up?" She asked.

"I'm gonna go meet up with Pyrrha and Hailey." I said.

"Oh, Is everything alright with her? I feel like she's been getting quieter and I'm worried we might have done something wrong." She said.

"It's nothing you guys did. Hopefully it won't be an issue soon. Although you might be able to help." I said.

"Just tell me what to do." She said.

"Get your team and the rest of JNPR together and Pyrrha and I bring Hailey by to explain." I said.

"Anything else?" She asked.

"If I think of anything, I'll let you know." I said.

We went our separate ways and I continued to the infirmary. When I got there Pyrrha was waiting outside.

"I'm guessing she's being examined?" I asked.

"Yes, did you know it had gotten that bad?" She asked.

"No. I knew about the abuse, but not that it was going this far." I said.

"How can anyone be so cruel yet want to be a huntsman?" She asked.

"Maybe that's it. Maybe he isn't wanting to be a huntsman. Could just be an excuse to get stronger." I said.

"Whatever his reasoning is, it's not right" She said.

"Yeah… While we still got a bit to talk. I have Ruby getting her and your teams together. Hailey will probably be upset at first, but we're gonna have to tell them so they can help her out too until this whole thing is resolved." I said.

"It won't be easy getting her in their room you know." She said.

"It wasn't gonna be easy getting her to talk to Goodwitch either. This is just the same plan part two." I said.

"So, if you don't mind my asking. Have you developed feelings for this girl?" She asked.

"I'm not really sure if its that or I just can't stand to see her suffering like this. Why is someone getting jealous?" I asked smiling.

"What! No. I was just simply asking is all." She said.

"Really? So, this has nothing to do with the fact Weiss and Jaune have been getting along surprisingly well?" I asked.

"Of course not. As I said, I'm happy for him." She said.

"I believe you, but I also feel like you're trying to hide how you really feel." I said.

"I'm sure I don't know what you're referring to." She said.

"Alright, I'll let it go for now." I said.

A few minutes later Hailey emerged from the examination room.

"Hey… I hope you didn't get in too much trouble because of me…" Hailey said holding her left arm.

"Nah, she just wanted to clarify a few details about my situation in this." I said.

"Oh, that's good at least." Hailey said.

"Did the nurse say anything?" Pyrrha asked.

"Not really. She gave me a note to get out of having to participate in combat class for a week or so until my aura heals my wounds… Provided they don't get worse." Hailey said.

"Don't worry, we'll make sure Cardin doesn't get another chance." I said.

"We?" Hailey asked.

"Ms. Goodwitch did say to have someone with you until this is sorted out." Pyrrha said.

"Cian Riley and Pyrrha Nikos at your service m'lady." I said bowing.

"Umm, thanks." Hailey said blushing. "If you don't mind, I'd like to head back to my room for the night."

Pyrrha and I looked at each other.

"Is something wrong guys?" Hailey asked.

"Actually, Ruby was planning to have a movie night tonight. She wanted me to see if you'd like to come." I said.

"It would be a good way to relax after everything you've been though." Pyrrha said.

"I don't know…" Hailey said.

"We're not gonna force you to come, but I think Ruby was really looking forward to hanging out with you. I think she's just as worried about you as we were." I said.

"You didn't tell her anything did you?" Hailey asked quietly.

"I swear I didn't." I said.

"Alright… I'll come." Hailey said.

"Sweet, then let's get going before they start without us." I said.

The three of us walked to team RWBY's dorm. I knocked on the door and Ruby answered.

"Hey Cian, Pyrrha, Hailey. Come on in." Ruby said.

We walked in and I shut the door behind us. Pyrrha and I stood by it.

"So, what's up Cian? Why did you want us all to meet up?" Yang asked.

"Cian?" Hailey asked confused.

"I'm sorry Hailey, but we're all your friends. They deserve to know too." I said.

"Know what?" Nora asked.

"Alright before I start. Nora and Yang, both of you have to swear not to do anything." I said.

"Cian please…" Hailey begged.

"Hailey you can be mad at me all you want afterward. We're all worried about you. We all want to help. Well except maybe Weiss." I said.

"Hey!" Weiss said.

"Hailey, it'll be alright. I promise." Pyrrha said.

Hailey looked toward the ground. "Alright…"

"Alright… So, this isn't gonna be easy to explain but… Hailey has been getting sexually assaulted by Cardin." I said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Yang yelled.

"Hailey…" Ruby said quietly.

"Now before anyone goes off and tried to beat some sense into him, Nora Yang, we talked with Ms. Goodwitch and they are going to look into this. For now, the best course of action is to leave it alone and act like we don't know anything. We all wanted this to be resolved and we're one step closer to that. We just need to wait for now." I said.

"You seriously want us to just sit here and pretend nothing is going on?" Yang yelled.

"Cardin is going too far now you can't expect us to just ignore this." Nora said.

"Trust me I'm not happy about this whole situation either. This is what we wanted and unfortunately this is the result we have to deal with." I said.

"You really expect us to just ignore him?" Weiss said.

"I mean you guys did a good job at it when you only knew about him bullying Jaune and I. You never jumped up to help us out without us asking. If I remember right we kept getting told to stand up to him ourselves. Not only that but like I said you guys wanted a way to have this dealt with without getting expelled. We have that chance now." I said.

"He's right. We may not like it, but this is the best course of action." Ren said.

"But Ren…" Nora said.

"There has to be something we can do at least." Blake said.

"Well Goodwitch did ask us to look after her while they are looking into this." I said.

"So, if anyone would be willing to help, I'm sure it'll be appreciated." Pyrrha said.

"That's what friends are for right?" Ruby said.

"It might not be much, but at least it's something." Blake said.

"I'm in." Jaune said.

"Really?" I asked.

"Well if you can take a stand like this. I don't see why I can't." Jaune said.

"Nice I assume Ren is on board as well so that just leaves Yang Nora and Weiss." I said.

"If I have time. I'll do what I can." Weiss said.

"Alright, but if anything else happens tell us right away." Yang said.

"If he does anything else Yang and I'll make sure he gets it back twice as hard." Nora said.

"Nora." Ren said.

"What? He gets away with it." Nora said.

"I might have a few ideas that won't leave marks." Yang said.

"Yang." Ruby said.

"Okay how about this. If he tries anything else, then you can use violence." I said.

"Deal." Yang and Nora said.

"I opened pandora's box again, didn't I?" I asked.

"Probably." Pyrrha said.

"Damnit… Oh well. Anyway, Hailey I suppose I should…" I paused when I saw tears falling from her. "Hailey?"

"Thank you… everyone. I'll try not to be a bother for you all…" Hailey said.

"All in a day's work for the Hero of Beacon" I said bowing.

"Lame!" Yang said.

"Really? Queen of the terrible puns is calling that lame?" I said.

"At least mine are pun-ny. Eh?" Yang said.

Ruby threw a pillow in her sister's face.

"So, if that's settled, I sort of promised Hailey a movie night. So anyone interested?" I asked.

"I've got homework to do." Weiss said.

"Oh, come on Ice Queen you've got all weekend to do it. Relax for a bit." Yang said.

"Given what we'd just heard I suppose that would be a good idea to calm us down." Ren said.

"So… what are we gonna watch then?" Ruby asked.

"Action!" Nora yelled.

"How about a comedy?" Yang asked.

"You could use the new material." I said.

"Oh haha." Yang said.

"We could watch a romance movie and get these "men" to cry." Pyrrha said with a small laugh.

"You really want a whole room full of people crying after this whole situation?" I said.

"Afraid to have a certain someone see you vulnerable?" Hailey asked.

"Really? You too?" I asked.

"Aww does Cian have a little crush on someone?" Yang asked.

"I never said. that." I said.

"He didn't deny it either." Blake said.

"Can we just get back to picking a movie?" Ruby said.

"Does anyone actually have a suggestion?" Jaune asked.

After a few more minutes of arguing we finally decided on the movie This Means War. Ruby closed the curtain while Blake set up the movie. Ren and Nora left briefly to get some snacks. Once everyone was back in the room we started the movie. I messaged Ariana telling her to let Archer know I'd probably be back a bit late. She replied telling me to have fun with a winking face.

'You'd think I'd learn to phrase things better with her by now.' I thought.

About halfway through the movie I started dozing off. I was shaken awake by Pyrrha.

"For the record I tried to stop her." Pyrrha said.

"What are you talking about?" I said before yawning.

"You know, you two do look really cute together like this." Yang said looking at her scroll.

"Huh?" I asked.

Yang hopped down from her bed and showed me what she was looking at. Apparently after I had passed out Hailey had done the same thing. The picture showed Hailey with her head on my shoulder while we were both passed out.

"You're gonna blackmail me with this aren't you?" I asked.

"Who's not funny now?" Yang asked.

"Speaking of which, where is Hailey?" I asked looking around.

"Ren and Nora took her back to her room a few minutes ago." Blake said.

"After we showed her the picture too." Yang said.

"You did more than that Yang…" Ruby said.

"What did you do." I asked slightly worried.

"Check your scroll." Blake said.

"Again, I tried to stop her and Nora." Pyrrha said.

I looked at my scroll and saw that the same picture was now my background.

"You should probably think about putting a lock on your scroll." Blake said.

"Please tell me that's all you did." I asked.

"Yep that's all I did." Yang said.

"Nora sent the picture to Hailey using your scroll." Weiss said.

I sighed. "Anything else?"

"No, after that we managed to get your scroll away from them." Blake said.

"Okay so what did they do that wasn't on my scroll?" I asked.

"Nothing. By then Nora and I had our fun." Yang said.

"Was that really a good idea considering what she's been though?" I asked.

"We told her it was only a joke to try and help break the tension a bit. We assured her we'd delete everything once we'd had our fun with you. We didn't send the pic to anyone other than the two of you. Besides you two looked so cute together I couldn't not have you two see it." Yang said.

"Even after we explained everything, she didn't seem that upset about it." Blake said.

"Really? That's kinda surprising." I said.

A knock came at the door.

"I got it." Pyrrha said.

Pyrrha opened the door with Ren Nora and Hailey on the other side.

"I thought you guys were taking her back to her room?" Pyrrha asked.

"About that…" Nora said.

"When we got there, we saw that Sky was there. Apparently, he's dating one of Hailey's teammates." Ren said.

"Great… because that isn't gonna complicate things further." I said.

"So, we got a few of her things and said we were having a girl's night and that she'd be spending the night in our room." Nora said.

"What about Ren?" I asked.

"Oh, I just said he lost a bet and was forced to be our butler for the night." Nora said.

"Which is why I'm carrying everything." Ren said.

"I told you I could have taken some of it on the way back…" Hailey said.

"We had to make it convincing though, in case they would have followed us." Nora said.

"I'm sorry Ren" Hailey said.

"It's not a problem." Ren said.

"So, I guess we're having a sleepover then?" Ruby asked.

"Looks like it. Unless anyone has any objections." Yang said.

No one said anything.

"I guess it's settled then." Ruby said.

"I'll get you a sleeping bag." Blake said.

"Thank you again." Hailey said.

"No problem." Ruby said.

"You guys know this is only gonna work for the weekend, right?" Weiss asked.

"She's right, we'll need to think of a backup idea." Jaune said.

"We can save that for tomorrow. For now, we should probably get some sleep. I should probably be getting back anyway. I'm sure Archer's got some speech he's ready to give me for coming back late." I said.

"Well then I guess you're stuck here too." Yang said.

"Wait what?" I asked.

"Well there's no point in going back now if you're just gonna get yelled at. Besides you I'm sure you wouldn't wanna leave poor Hailey after what you just found out. She'd want her best friend with her." Yang said smiling.

"You know, I know you're playing me. Sadly, you're also right. As long as Hailey is alright with it." I said.

"I-it your choice." Hailey said with a slight blush.

"I mean I'm sure I could just crash in JNPR's dorm too." I said.

"Wow, I'm not sure who's denser between you and Vomit-boy." Yang said.

"Huh?" Jaune and I both said.

"Never mind. You're crashing here." Yang said.

"I'm not winning this argument, am I?" I asked.

"Nope." Yang said throwing me a sleeping bag.

"Alright I give." I said.

"And just like that his kryptonite is showing." Blake said.

"No I… but… oh screw it." I said opening the sleeping bag.

"I'm gonna let that one slide." Yang said.

I let out a sigh.

"On that note I suppose we should be saying goodnight." Pyrrha said.

We said goodnight as team JNPR headed to their room. Once Hailey and I had our sleeping bags situated we turned the light out and tried getting some sleep. I probably would have fallen asleep right away if my scroll hadn't gone off. Hailey had messaged me.

"I'm sorry you got forced to stay the night." She said.

"Why? It's not your fault. If anyone should apologize its Yang." I replied.

"Speaking of which… I'm guessing you saw the picture…" She said.

"Yeah… I'm really sorry about that." I replied.

"It's alright, I know they were just joking around." She said.

"Just out of curiosity… What did you think when you saw it?" She said.

"Well at first I was mostly upset with Yang and Nora. I will say Yang was right about it being kinda cute though." I replied.

"No, I mean that you looked cute like that." I replied.

"I mean the pose was cute." I replied.

"I'm gonna stop before I say something worse." I replied.

"Lol It's okay." She said.

"For the record. You looked cute too." She said.


	4. Chapter 4

**Greetings one and all! Welcome to the much anticipated and sought-after continuation! I have to say I'm a little surprised how well this story has been doing so far, but I'm happy either way. As always if you're enjoying this story make sure to check out my other ones and check out TheBurningRuler and Nightmare 6-4 as well. I know timetable between chapters hasn't been very consistent and for that I apologize.**

 **RaxtusDragon: I really appreciate the review. I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far. Never expected to hear my characters getting shipped.**

When I woke up Hailey was already gone as was Yang.

"Umm where are Hailey and Yang?" I asked.

"She took her back to her dorm to drop her stuff off. We had to go into town today anyway, so we invited her along." Ruby said.

"Was it really a good idea to let her go alone?" I asked.

"Ren went with them." Blake said.

"We just figured having Yang go would be a good intimidation factor to not mess with her. Knowing she's friends with her and Nora should hopefully reduce the abuse she's been getting." Weiss said.

"As long as she doesn't do anything reckless. I don't suppose I could get a cup of coffee before I head back?" I asked.

"That's actually one of the reasons we were heading into town. We're out." Ruby said.

"Well fuck. I was hoping to get a cup before I had to go back and deal with general Archer. I don't suppose you'd know if team JNPR would have any?" I asked.

"They don't dare keep coffee in the dorm. Not after the last time…" Blake said.

"Last time?" I asked.

"Nora had one sip…" Ruby said.

"Let's just say if this would have happened after what we heard Cardin has been doing. More than just his legs would be broken." Blake said.

"Good to know. Well if you girls don't mind, I wouldn't mind coming along with everyone." I said.

"Doesn't bother me." Blake said.

"I don't care." Weiss said.

"Sure. Oh, on your way back to our dorm grab one of your gloves. I can look it over and we can get materials to improve them while we're in town." Ruby said.

"Sounds good. Well wish me luck." I said heading out the door.

I headed back to my dorm hoping I could get to the kitchen before Archer found me. That didn't happen. When I walked in the door Ariana was lying on her bed doing something on her scroll. Proton looked to be tinkering with his explosives. Just as I closed the door Archer came out of the bathroom.

"It's about time you came back. You were not given proper permission to stay in another team's dorm. Next time I…" Was all I heard him say. I tried to ignore his tirade and just go to the kitchen. I was just about to open the door when he stepped in front of me.

"Have you been listening to a word I've said?" Archer said.

"Nope. And I suggest you get out of my way. It won't end well if you don't." I said.

"You really think you're in a position to threa…" was all he was able to get out. I quickly raised my hand and gripped his throat slamming him against the door.

"Woah. Hang on Cian." Ariana said.

"Fuck no, let him go I've been waiting for this to happen." Proton said.

"You are not my mother." I said in a monotone. "I am old enough to make my own fucking decisions as are the rest of us. You need to stop treating the three of us like were god damn toddlers or it's going to end badly for you. I didn't come back last night because I knew you were going to throw a fit and I didn't wanna deal with it. Not only that I got busy helping a friend and they offered to let me spend the night." I tossed him to the ground beside me. I entered the kitchen and slammed the door behind me. I walked over and started making a pot of coffee. I could hear them talking on the other side of the door.

"Holy shit. That was awesome. Didn't think the kid could actually be threatening." Proton said.

"I think you mean insubordinate." Archer said. I almost walked back into the living room when he said that.

"Oh, will you drop it. Cian's right. You've been insufferable since day one. You've done nothing but treat us like fucking three-year olds." Ariana said.

"No kidding. I just never thought He'd be the first one to snap." Proton said.

"It's my job as leader…" Archer started to say.

"To be an inconsiderate asshole that doesn't care about how his teammates feel? To drive his teammates away by being a prick?" Ariana said.

"Read the room dude. You've been a dick to us for a while now. It's a miracle that we haven't told you to fuck off and quit. This bullshit certainly isn't worth it." Proton said.

'Has Proton been thinking about quitting the team? Maybe he's been thinking about transferring to another academy?' I thought.

"That's enough both of you!" Archer yelled.

"Why? Because you're on the loosing side? Fuck you dude. I don't need this shit." Proton said.

I turned and walked out of the kitchen. "Hang on. Before you do something stupid. I have an idea that might solve some of our issues."

The three of them looked at each other before looking back to me. "What do you have in mind?" Archer asked.

"It's a longshot, but I have a friend that's having issues with her teammates also. If we can get Ozpin's approval, we might be able to make a trade between the two teams." I said.

"I appreciate you trying to help kid, but this gig is getting old anyway." Proton said.

"Hang on. I think he may be on to something. It's at least worth talking to Oz about it first and see if it's possible." Ariana said.

The room was silent for a bit.

"Alright fine. I'll humor you. If Ozpin says we can trade, I'll stay. If not I'm out of here." Proton said.

"Very well. Cian since this was your idea you can set up the meeting to talk with him." Archer said.

"Alright I have other stuff to do today also, but I'll let him know." I said.

"In the meantime, maybe everyone just keeps to themselves until we have our answer." Ariana said.

"Can we all at least agree to that for now?" I asked.

We all agreed, and Archer left the room. Proton went back to his explosives. Ariana followed me into the kitchen.

"So, can I assume you've had a cup now?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah I'm good. Wish it wouldn't have came to that." I said.

"Don't worry about it. He's needed to hear that for a while now." Ariana said.

"Can't argue with that. Hopefully Ozpin will let us trade. I don't wanna see Proton give up just because Archer's a jackass." I said.

"Sooo, who's the potential new teammate? Don't think I didn't catch you mention it was a girl." Ariana said.

"It's Hailey." I said.

"Oh, the cute fox girl that you started talking to about a week ago. She was being bullied by Cardin too right?" Ariana asked.

"Yeah. It's kinda the reason she's having trouble with her team. One of her teammates is dating Sky and they don't believe her when she asks them for help with him. Saying she's just asking for attention." I said.

"Aww and you're trying to be her personal superhero. How cute." Ariana said.

"I-It's not that. I just figure if we can pull this off it should benefit all of us." I said.

"Whatever you say sugar. Better hurry up and finish getting ready. Don't wanna keep her waiting." Ariana said with a wink.

"Hang on. If this works. You have to promise to lay off the sex jokes and flirting stuff around her." I said.

"And just like that you make it sound like there is more to the story that you're not telling me." Ariana said.

"There… may be some truth to that…" I said.

"I won't pry for now in case this doesn't work. If this does work though the two of you need to fill whoever stays in on the full story." Ariana said.

"Yeah I figured. One problem at a time." I said.

With that I quickly headed down to the locker room to grab my gloves. The training room was surprisingly empty. I suppose because it was still kinda early. I went into the locker room and grabbed my gloves. On my way out I ended up running into Sky.

"You're just the guy I was looking for. So, what's the deal with you and that Sakura bitch?" Sky asked.

"Other than we're both victims of your teams bullying nothing." I said putting my gloves on.

"Well let me give you a little warning." He said walking up to me. He punched me in the stomach. I fell to the ground holding where he'd punched me. He grabbed my hair and forced me to look at him. "That slut belongs to Cardin. So, if you know what's good for you. You and all your little friends will back the fuck off." He kneed me in the face and walked away.

I slowly started getting up and looked back at him.

"You wanted to be a huntsman. Fucking act like one. Don't let people bully you. Give them a reason not to fuck with you. You're in the big leagues now. You can't just continue putting up with shit like that." Aelita's words echoed in my head.

'To be fair. He threw the first punch.' I thought. I started charging my gloves and walked towards him. "Hey Sky."

Sky turned around just as I shot an energy blast to his face. Knocking him to the ground making him drop his weapon. I fired my other shot at his weapon launching it away from him. I continued towards him. Just as he made it to his feet, I sent an uppercut to his jaw causing him to fall back down. I stomped on his chest causing him to let out a small gasp.

"Take a message back to Cardin. If he comes anywhere near Hailey again. He's finally gonna get everything he's put her though tenfold." I said. I charged one of my gloves and punched him in the face at full power, releasing the stored energy at the same time.

After that I started heading to team RWBY's dorm. When I finally arrived everyone from both team RWBY and JNPR were ready along with Hailey.

"What took you so long?" Weiss asked.

"Let's just say things with Archer took longer that I anticipated." I said.

"Why are you wearing your gloves?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well... Ruby asked me to bring them by cause we were gonna try improving them. I figured the easiest way to bring them back was just to wear them." I said. 'They don't need to know about Sky…'

I handed the gloves over to Ruby and she began inspecting them.

"Honestly we shouldn't need much as far as materials. I think all you should need is just to have points on the tips of the fingers. It'll make them closer to claws but should give you a better kill shot against Grimm." Ruby said.

"Sounds good to me." I said.

With that we all set off for the city. Ruby and I decided we'd meet up after everyone had done their regular shopping first. We all decided to split up to make things go a little faster. Jaune and Weiss decided to let Hailey tag along with them. Blake and Ruby invited Nora to go along with them. Yang and Ren partnered off and Ren seemed somewhat relieved that he wasn't paired with Nora. Leaving me and Pyrrha to wander the markets together.

"So how bad was Archer when you got back?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah about that. He got to learn firsthand what happens when you piss me off before I get my morning coffee." I said.

"It couldn't have been that bad." Pyrrha said with a slight laugh.

"I pinned him to the kitchen door by his throat." I said.

"What?" She said worriedly.

"Yeah… trust me not proud of that… especially since it set off a mini war in our team…" I said.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

"I'm pretty sure Proton was about to leave Beacon because Archer is such a tyrant. Ariana didn't really help much. We all pretty much let it be known we're sick of the way he's been treating us." I said.

"So then what stopped him from leaving?" She asked.

"… don't tell Hailey cause I don't wanna get her hopes up, but I said since both of our teams are having issues that maybe we can convince Ozpin to let us make a trade. I know it's a longshot but it's at worth a try." I said.

"What if it doesn't work?" She asked.

"Then I guess Proton's gonna actually leave. I don't think there's anything we can do to convince him to stay as long as Archer is our leader." I said.

"I don't see Professor Ozpin making a change like that. More than likely he'll probably tell you to work it out amongst yourselves." She said.

"I know… that's why I don't wanna tell Hailey, cause I feel like I'll end up letting her down if she gets her hopes up…" I said.

"So, are you doing this for her or your team?" She asked.

"I'm just hoping for the best possible outcome for everyone." I said.

"So, this has nothing to do with trying to impress her or anything?" She said.

"O-of course not." I said.

"That wasn't very convincing you know." She said with a small laugh.

"Okay… maybe there is someone I kinda like that I may be trying to impress a bit. That's all you're getting out of me though." I said embarrassed.

"So, The Hero of Beacon has a little crush on someone? That's adorable." She said with a huge smile on her face.

"Alright, alright. Just don't tell anyone. I don't need Yang and Nora pestering me about it." I said.

"Don't worry I won't say anything. Although if you tell me I may be able to help you out." She said.

"Nice try. I'd rather not get my hopes up too high and just wait for now." I said.

"Wouldn't it be worth it to at least find out if she likes you? Maybe she likes you more than you give her credit, but she's to shy to tell you." She said.

"No, I'm certain she only sees me as a friend." I said.

"Oh, and what makes you so certain?" She asked.

"I just know. Don't get me wrong I'd hope I'm wrong, but I'm probably not." I said.

"I could find out if you'd like." She said.

"I appreciate you wanting to help Pyrrha, but I'd rather just let it go for now." I said.

"Alright. If something changes your mind, I'll help in any way I can." She said.

"Thanks. I really appreciate everything you've done for me since we met. Even though you really didn't have to." I said.

"It's no problem. That's what friends are for." She said.

"Yeah. You're right." I said with a small smile.

After Pyrrha and I finished our shopping we joined up with the rest of the group. Everyone decided to head back to the school except for Ruby and I. Since we still needed to pick up the materials for my gloves.

"So, I've been meaning to ask. You're from Mistral like Pyrrha right?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"So, what made you choose Beacon over Haven?" She asked.

"My dad went to Haven Academy. I didn't wanna take the chance of the faculty comparing me to him and having higher standards for me going in. I felt like it would add more stress and I'd end up failing out. Plus, I wanna write my own story and I felt like that wouldn't happen there." I said.

"But doesn't the mask kinda go against that?" She asked.

"In a way. The way I think about it, he only started wearing the mask because of me. He never wore one before that. He was a huntsman years before he started wearing the mask so it wouldn't be something that he was known for. So, while it may not make perfect sense. I'm trying to make my own story away from my father, but at the same time I also wanted to find some way to honor him." I said.

"That's awesome. It's kinda like why I wear my hood. Mom used to wear one too. So, do you ever like take it off?" She asked.

"Only to shower." I said.

"So, you even sleep with it on?" She asked.

"You should know I slept in your dorm last night." I said.

"I thought that was just so you wouldn't lose it. I didn't think you actually wore it all the time. When do you clean it?" She asked.

"Right before I shower. I'll hand wash it before I get in and dry it using Ariana's hair dryer." I said.

"You use her hair dryer?" She asked.

"Hey, it was mom's idea. If I hadn't gotten paired with at least one girl I'd have went out and bought one." I said.

"Does she know?" She asked.

"It's not very subtle so I'm pretty sure she knows." I said.

"And she hasn't said anything?" She asked.

"Nope. So, either she knows what I'm using it for, doesn't care or she's looked in on me without me knowing. Really hoping it's not that last one." I said.

"So, no one here has seen what you look like without it on?" She asked.

"Not unless someone took it off me while I was sleeping." I said.

"So, you could like wake up with it on in the middle of the night and scare one of your teammates cause they wouldn't know if you were actually awake or not." She said.

"I suppose I could. Never really thought about that though." I said.

"So, what color are your eyes then?" She asked.

"That my dear Ruby is a secret." I said.

"Come ooon. I won't tell anyone." She said.

"Sorry Ruby but telling you would reveal my secret identity." I said.

"Don't you need a fake name in order to have a secret identity?" She asked.

"How do you know Cian isn't a fake name?" I said.

"Cause no superhero would call themselves that. It's gotta be something memorable like The Blue Swordsman or something like that. Otherwise you're just mild-mannered Cian Riley." She said.

"I am known by many names. The Hero of Beacon, The Babbling Idiot, That Nerd with the Mask, but you miss Rose. You may call me. The Blue Swordsman." I said.

Ruby burst out laughing. "First off I'm pretty sure no one call you any of those things. Well maybe the nerd one. There are a few jerks at the school, and I don't mean Cardin. He and his team are on a completely different level. Second If you start using that I want naming rights." She said.

"You never claimed a copyright on it." I said.

"That's not fair." She said.

"And for your information Pyrrha called me the Hero of Beacon When we split up earlier." I said sticking out my tongue.

"Did she mean it or was it part of a joke?" She asked.

"It… may have been part of a joke." I said.

"That's what I thought." She said.

We found a shop Ruby had apparently visited before when she was first making her own weapon.

"So, what are you thinking for my gloves?" I asked.

"Well I've been thinking, and I have a few ideas. As far as the killing blow you're looking for. Option one is we replace the tip of each finger with a sharper point. Option two will make them a little heavier. We can add a single retractable blade to the top of each one. Like you go back to the boarbatusk in class. If you'd get it on its back, you extend the blade and then punch it causing the blade to dig into it. Or when you use your semblance thing you go to fire a punch and it should fire the blade on top giving it an edge like you would with one of your swords. I'm also thinking we can probably make the gloves collapsible like Yang's, so you don't need to take them off and put them on constantly." She said.

"Wow you've really put lot of thought into this." I said.

"Well someone had to. Besides, I love working on Crescent Rose, and although she's my baby. Working on someone else's weapon again could be fun." She said.

"I'm gonna ignore the first part but what do you mean by again?" I asked.

"I accidentally caused one explosion while tinkering with Yang's gauntlets and she won't let me near them anymore." She said.

"I'm starting to have second thoughts about this." I said with a small laugh.

"That's not nice. Besides your gloves only have a fifteen percent chance of exploding." She said.

"How is there even a percentage of that? There's nothing combustible in them. They're just metal gloves." I said.

"I'm kidding. It's only about a five percent chance." She said.

"There's still a chance?" I asked.

"Only if something goes wrong with the collapsing mechanism. The percentage is mainly just to apply for the chance something could go wrong. Even if you don't anticipate a problem, you always prepare for it." She said.

"Wow, no wonder you were made team leader." I said.

"At least someone thinks I should be the leader…" She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You remember the fight Weiss and I had a while back? She said Ozpin made a mistake in making me the leader of our team. Ozpin tried to reassure me that it wasn't a mistake, but I'm sure Weiss still doesn't think so." She said.

"And because of that you're questioning which one of them is right." I said.

"Yeah…" She said.

"For what it's worth. We all know Weiss isn't the nicest person in the world, and that she has problems accepting help and accepting that anyone is superior to her. If comics have taught me anything is that kids of rich people normally don't have it that well and are either neglected or have been brought up thinking they can do whatever they want. I don't know if all the rumors around her dad's character are true, but if they are there might be a reason she is the way she is." I said.

"Still. I just want us to all be friends. It seems like she has no interest in that." She said.

"Well it seems like she and Jaune are getting along fairly well. Maybe just give it time and her icy heart will thaw out some." I said.

Ruby gave a small laugh. "You're probably right. We should probably head back now. I probably won't get any work done tonight, but I'll start first thing in the morning." She said.

"Sounds good to me." I said.

We made our way though town and headed to the airships.

"So, I meat to say I'm sorry about what Yang did last night." She said.

"Hailey wasn't upset about it, so I'm not worried about it. I was more worried about how she'd have reacted." I said.

"So, Just out of curiosity. Do you like her?" She asked.

"Of course I like her she's my friend." I said.

"No, I mean do you **like** her?" She asked.

"I knew what you meant. You aren't the first one who's asked me. Like I said she's my friend. With everything else she's been though I wouldn't wanna push her into something whether I liked her that way or not. I'm feel like it would be quite a while before she'd let anyone actually get close enough for a relationship anyway." I said.

"Cian yes or no. I'm not gonna tell anyone." She said.

"I never said you would. Like I said, even if I did, I don't think she'd want something like that for a while. If you're that interested, I'll admit I kinda have a crush on someone else. I'm not telling you…" I said.

"It's Pyrrha isn't it?" She asked.

"What? N-no I-I don't… How did you know?" I asked.

"First off I don't want you to think I'm stalking you or anything like that. I've noticed you spending a lot of time with Pyrrha while you've been trying to help Hailey out. So, I made a guess that you liked one of them." She said.

"Well don't expect much. I think I'm just gonna cut my losses on it." I said.

"You're gonna give up without even trying?" She said.

"She only sees me as a friend anyway. I'm not really sure there is anything I could do to change that." I said.

"You never know until you try." She said.

Our ship docked at Beacon and we started heading towards the dorms.

"You promise you're not gonna tell anyone right? I don't need Yang or Nora trying to start planning anything." I said.

"I promise." She said.

"Thanks." I said.

Just as we were about to enter the dorms, Cardin and his team were coming out of them.

"Riley! You and I need to have a little talk!" Cardin yelled.

"We have nothing to talk about." I said.

Cardin walked up and grabbed my shirt lifting me off the ground.

"See that's where you're wrong. It seems you didn't wanna listen to Sky's warning from earlier. Now I'm gonna make it crystal fucking clear for you." He said. He threw me to the ground and stepped on my head.

Ruby swung the bag of materials at Cardin knocking him off me. She then helped me back to my feet.

"Back off kid, this is between me and him." Cardin said standing back up.

Before Ruby could respond Sky and Dove grabbed her arms and pulled her away from me. Russel kicked me from behind sending me back to the ground.

"Now I believe you were warned to stay away from the fox bitch. A rational person would take this warning and listen. Instead you decided to attack my teammate with no good reason." Cardin said walking up to me.

"Right cause being assaulted while trying to leave the training hall isn't a good reason." I said. Cardin kicked me in the face knocking me on my back.

"Call it an insurance policy. Now I'm gonna give you one final warning. The slut is my property to do with as I please. If I catch you anywhere near here again. I'll have you thrown off the side of the cliff." He said.

"Yeah say that with a witness around." Ruby said still struggling to break free.

"Oh, I'm not too worried about that." Cardin said.

Sky and Dove both punched her in the stomach before pushing her to the ground.

"I don't think there'll be anymore issues." Cardin said as his team walked away.

I got up and tried to help Ruby up.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Compared to a Nevermore, that was nothing." She said.

"It's my fault you got wrapped up in my problems. I'm sorry." I said.

"I couldn't just stand there and let it happen. What kind of friend would I be?" She said.

"Still…" I said.

"Are you two alright?" Velvet said running up to us.

"Been better, but all things considered I think we're alright." I said.

"That's a relief." Velvet said.

"How much of that did you see?" Ruby asked.

"The whole thing." Velvet said.

"I know he's been a jerk to you too, and I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but please don't tell me you just stood there and hid rather than helping out or getting help." I said.

"I'm sorry, I was hiding, but I hope this will help you to forgive me." Velvet said handing me her scroll.

Her scroll showed a video of what Cardin and his team had just done to Ruby and I.

"This is just what we needed. We can show this to Ozpin and hopefully it'll be enough evidence for him to do something to them." I said.

"We'd still have to wait until Monday to talk to him though. We still have to keep Hailey away from him for another day. Now it looks like we have to do the same thing for you as well." Ruby said.

"I'll give Ariana a brief rundown so she can help out. Since she's the only one I really trust on my team right now. I can't see the rest your team being upset with letting her spend another night or two. Maybe Weiss, but we can think of a way to make it up to her. If this finally gets Cardin out of our hair, I don't think anyone will be upset about it." I said.

"Have her come to my dorm and we'll discuss our plan with everyone else. I assume Hailey is with Pyrrha or one of my teammates." Ruby said.

"Got it. Velvet you might as well come too. I can imagine if Cardin finds out he'll come after you too." I said.

"Alright, I'll have Coco come too. I'm sure she'll wanna know what's going on." Velvet said.

"That's both comforting and worrying. I'll be lucky if Hailey doesn't hate me for getting so many extra people involved in this." I said.

"You're doing this to help her and everyone else being harassed by that jerk. I can't imagine her hating you too much." Ruby said.

"I hope you're right. I'll message Ariana. You let Yang know to gather everyone up. Have Coco head over as soon as she can." I said.

As the three of us walked to Ruby's dorm I messaged Ariana telling her to meet us there. We walked in the room to see team JNPR and Hailey along with the remaining members of team RWBY.

"What happened to you guys?" Yang asked.

"I'll give you one guess." I said.

"Cardin." Yang said as her eyes changed from their normal lilac to red.

"Yang I know what you're thinking, but we have a plan." Ruby said.

"So do I. I'm gonna go kick the crap out of him." Yang said.

"We have one that will prevent you from possibly getting expelled." I said.

Hailey put her hand on Yang's shoulder. Yang looked at her still enraged.

"Believe me I'd love to see you give him what he deserves. I don't wanna see you kicked out though. Let's hear their plan first." Hailey said.

"Ugh fine." Yang said jumping up onto her bunk.

Shortly after there was a knock at the door. Ruby answered to see Ariana and Coco on the other side.

"Come on in girls." Ruby said.

"Thanks." Ariana said stepping in. She looked at me and her normal attitude changed. "I'm guessing this is about Cardin?"

"Good guess." I said.

"Is he still bothering you Velvet?" Coco asked.

"Sometimes… Not since Yatsu talked with him." Velvet said.

"Yatsuhashi just talked to him?" Blake asked.

"That's the nice way of putting it. It was more of a threat. He let them know if they came near her again it would be the last time." Coco said.

"I'm surprised they listened." I said.

"I'm guessing you've never met him. He's a gentle giant, but don't mess with his teammates." Coco said.

"Noted. Anyway, now that everyone is here, we'll discuss the plan. Velvet if you would." I said.

Velvet plugged her scroll into a projector.

"Before we play this you all have to swear not to do anything until we explain the plan. Specifically, Ariana, Nora, Yang and Coco." I said.

"Why don't I like the sound of that?" Yang asked.

"Because you're not gonna. Just swear." I said.

"I'm not promising anything." Yang said.

"Damn it you're not getting expelled over that jackass so shut up sit still and listen to the plan before you run off and do something you'll regret!" I yelled.

The room was silent.

"Wow, and here I never thought I'd see you actually explode. Other than this morning." Ariana said.

"Velvet, play the video please…" I said embarrassed.

Velvet played the video of what Cardin and his team did to me and Ruby.

"Are you kidding me? You really expect me to just sit here after what he did to Ruby?" Yang yelled.

"Yes, I do." Ruby said.

"Rubes you can't be serious!" Yang yelled.

"You're not looking at the big picture Yang. That's why we said to listen to our plan first. We plan on showing this to Ozpin as evidence of what Cardin's been doing. You heard the audio he even admitted to what he was doing to Hailey." I said.

"He also mentioned a warning Sky gave you. When was that exactly?" Weiss asked.

"This morning when I was coming back from picking up my gloves." I said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Jaune asked.

"What good would it have done? The only thing it would have accomplished is Yang and Nora wanting to kill him sooner." I said.

"It matters because now their threatening to kill you for even being in the same room as her." Nora said.

"Cian. Why were you actually wearing you're gloves?" Pyrrha asked.

I stood quietly for a moment.

"Cian." Hailey said.

"Alright fine. A few days ago, I ended up calling home for the heck of it. I told my sister what Cardin had been doing to me, and she got on me about standing up for myself. So when Sky attacked me, I fought back. I didn't tell anyone cause I didn't want anyone to worry. I'm sure this is the part where someone gets after me for fighting back when I've kept telling people not to." I said.

"You're damn right! What kind of hypocritical bullshit is that?" Yang yelled.

"Actually, I hate to say it, but that might not affect anything." Ren said.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Cardin and his team have been attacking him since day one. They don't see him as a threat. If they did, they wouldn't have attacked him after he fought back. So more than likely they would have no reason to report the retaliation, nor would Ozpin have any reason to believe him if the evidence is shown before they would have a chance." Ren said.

"That still doesn't mean he needed to do something so risky." Blake said.

"Yeah I know." I said.

"Alright, that's enough. He did what he thought was right in the situation. It may not have been the smartest decision, but the best decision isn't always the smartest. Now you guys have a way to prove what he's been doing to other students." Coco said.

"I'm assuming you're adding this to the meeting you were already setting up with Ozpin?" Ariana said.

"You were already planning on talking to Ozpin?" Ruby asked.

"Oh, yeah…" I said.

"That seems way to convenient." Weiss said.

"Believe it or not it is. We had a little team implosion this morning so he had the idea to talk with Ozpin to see if we could swap a teammate for Foxy there." Ariana said pointing at Hailey.

"Shit." I whispered.

"You were what?" Hailey asked.

"You didn't tell her?" Ariana asked.

"I didn't wanna get her hopes up in case it didn't work." I said.

"So what was the plan if Oz approved? Just message her and tell her to move her things to our dorm?" Ariana asked.

"I figured if he approved it, he'd have gotten our teams together to make it official." I said.

"Is there anything else you're not telling us?" Weiss asked.

"No. I wasn't trying to hide anything. I didn't wanna reveal anything in case my ideas didn't work. I didn't wanna get anyone's hopes up…" I started.

"Everyone stop!" Hailey yelled. "All he's been doing is trying to help. I'm not happy that he's trying to do this all on his own either, but I get it. He's doing it to protect his friends. When this first started, I tried telling my teammates and they didn't believe anything I said. When he found me, I was a wreck. I wanted Cardin dead. I wanted to give up and go home, and I even thought about killing myself. I couldn't take it. He found me and took a huge amount of the weight off my shoulders even when I tried pushing him away. He never gave up on me even when he found out the whole story. He's not trying to hide anything from us. He is trying to protect all of us. He knows if he doesn't find a solution on his own it'll start affecting his friends more and more and he doesn't wanna see anything bad happen to us. From what I understand Cardin has been bullying Jaune, Cian, Velvet and I for a while now. I'm not trying to say anyone else is in the wrong, but it sounded like no one else was trying to stop it. So now he's trying to stop them on his own. As corny as it is to say. He really is a superhero. He wants to protect his friends no matter the cost. Even if it means putting himself in danger."

"She's not wrong. We could have done more to help. If we had maybe things wouldn't have gotten this far." Pyrrha said.

"He still didn't need to take this all on by himself." Blake said.

"The best action for you guys right now is to go though with the plans on Monday. I'll have Yatsu give Hailey and Cian escorts that day too. Cardin won't dare come near them with him around. As far as tomorrow goes, I recommend all of you staying in groups of no less than three. Especially those he's targeting specifically. After Cian has his meeting with Ozpin you guys will need to protect each other the most. From the sound of it once Carin finds out He'll be out for blood. You'll wanna hope he and his team get escorted off the premises before you'll be safe. Given the charges they'll most likely face they'll probably all be sent to prison." Coco said.

"Alright. Until this blows over, I'll try to keep myself from beating his face in. From here on out though, no one goes at anything alone. We're all friends which means we look out for each other." Yang said.

"Got it Cian? We understand you're trying to protect us, but we can't protect you unless we know what's going on." Blake said.

"Yeah I got it." I said.

"Well now that that's settled. Fox girl. It's Hailey, right?" Ariana said.

"Yeah?" Hailey said confused.

"You're crashing with us tonight." Ariana said.

"Wait what?" Hailey and I both said.

"Isn't Archer gonna be like super pissed?" I asked.

"Well I figure if she's possibly gonna be part of the team we might as well get to know her a bit. Archer may have a stick up his ass, but I know he loves being intimidating. So, if we explain the situation then when we go get her some stuff to use tonight. Then he'll make sure no one fucks with her. Besides, when were on the same page about something. Proton, Archer and I can be a force no one wants to mess with. You saw what we can do during initiation. This will be like that but with less killing. Plus, it'll probably help break some of the tension between those two." Ariana said.

"Is that alright with you Hailey?" I asked.

"S-sure, but where am I gonna sleep?" She asked.

"We can figure that out later. For now, we should probably go back and explain the situation to the other two." Ariana said.

"If you say so. I guess we'll see you guys later." I said.

"I'll follow you back so Yatsu and I can stop by Monday morning." Coco said.

The four of us left the dorm and started heading for mine and Ariana's.

"So, there's already enough tension with our team. What make's you think Archer will allow this?" I asked.

"Trust me we'll be able to manipulate him fairly easily. Proton will agree just because it'll be against Archer. So even if we don't convince him we have numbers on our side." Ariana said.

"You make it sound like your team practically hates each other." Coco said.

"Cian and I get along just fine. Archer is like a mini ironwood, and Proton is kinda like a solo player. He likes to do what he wants and doesn't work well with the kind of leadership Archer tries to enforce." Ariana said.

"Do you mind if I sit in on this meeting so I can see what he's like?" Coco asked.

"Doesn't bother me. That alright with you Cian?" Ariana asked.

"It doesn't bother me." I said a bit concerned.

"Thank you. I'll try to keep quiet I mainly just wanna see what his leadership style is. I might be able to offer him some advice in case the team changing doesn't work out." Coco said.

"If it comes to that I wish you the best of luck." Ariana said.

We walked in and Archer was on his scroll. Proton was not in the room.

"We have a proposal Archer." Ariana said.

"We as in the four of you, or just you?" Archer said.

"The three of us." Ariana said pushing Hailey and I forward. "The other one is just a bystander."

Archer sighed. "What do you want? Wasn't it you who said to keep to ourselves until after the meeting with Ozpin?"

"Yes, but some new information has come my way and this sweet girl here is gonna be staying with us tonight." Ariana said.

"Absolutely not." Archer said.

"You haven't even listened to why yet." Ariana said.

"I don't care either." Archer said.

"Didn't you tell me any form of information can be useful no matter how trivial?" I asked.

"I did, but…" Archer started to say.

"So, this is something you're gonna wanna hear." I said.

"Fine. Whatever." Archer said.

"That's the closest to cooperation we're gonna get right now. Anyway. So, this girl here is the one who's having problems on the team Cian mentioned this morning. The one who we're attempting to trade to our team." Ariana said.

"And since we don't know what Ozpin's decision will be yet. If we let her stay the night this will be a good opportunity for you Proton and Ariana to scope out the other team. In case he decides to send one of you to their side." I said.

"Plus, it'll give you a chance to intimidate them ahead of time if you get sent over." Ariana said.

Archer was silent for a moment.

"Before I make a decision. I need a little more to go off. Name and the reason you're having problems with your team?" Archer said looking at Hailey.

"Oh, Hailey Sakura, the reason I guess is they don't really take me seriously. Mostly cause I haven't unlocked my semblance and since I keep telling them that I…" Hailey said getting quieter.

"Telling them what?" Archer asked.

"That… Cardin has been… sexually assaulting me." Hailey struggled to get out.

"Alright you can stay. Cian, message Proton that he's needed back at the dorm. Once he's back, the three of us will go with you to get whatever belongings you need." Archer said.

"That's it?" I asked.

"What?" Archer asked.

"I figured you'd want more than that." I said.

"I can take it back." Archer said.

"No, no it's fine." I said frantically pulling out my scroll.

'Hey, we need you back at the dorm.' I messaged Proton.

'Im on my way back anyway but y' He sent back.

'I'll explain when you get here.' I replied.

"He's on his way." I said.

A couple minutes later Proton walked in.

"Woah. What's with all the people?" Proton said.

"This is Hailey, She's the one who we're trying to exchange with." Ariana said.

"Okay, but that does this have to do with me?" Proton asked.

"She's crashing with us tonight. You, me and Archer are going to go get some of her stuff." Ariana said.

"First, Archer's actually letting someone crash here? Second, why do I have to go?" Proton asked.

"If one of us is going to be possibly transferred to their team. Cian made a mention this would be a good opportunity to check the team out ahead of time. Plus, it would be a good opportunity to use our undercover outfits again." Archer said with the first smile I've ever seen from him.

"Works for me." Proton said.

Archer and Proton went into the kitchen and bathroom respectively to change. When the two came out they were wearing black suits, sunglasses and earpieces.

"We're really doing this?" Ariana asked.

"You get to act like more of a bigshot than the Schnee girl. Why are you complaining?" Proton asked.

"Alright." Arana said. She turned to Hailey. "Alright darling, tonight you'll be staying with Luana Asagiri and you'll have the finest bodyguard's money can buy. I'll distract them by doing all the talking. You just worry about grabbing whatever you need. With any luck maybe we'll run into Cardin and I can put him down a couple notches." Ariana said walking into the bathroom.

"Okay… but why the fake names and the getups?" Hailey asked.

"This way if Cardin's at your dorm waiting for you to come back, he won't be able to put two and two together that Cian is involved!" Ariana yelled.

"From what I've heard I don't think Cardin's smart enough to do math that simple to begin with. Why does it matter if he's there? The two of you having a lovers dispute or something?" Proton asked.

Archer walked over and whispered something in Proton's ear.

"You serious?" Proton asked.

Archer nodded.

"Wow, I apologize for that." Proton said.

"I-it's alright…" Hailey said.

Ariana came out of the bathroom wearing an over bust leather corset and miniskirt, a white short-sleeve jacket and had her hair in pigtails. "Alright boys. Showtime. Hailey dear lead the way. Don't have too much fun while we're gone." She said winking.

The four of them left the room leaving me and Coco.

"That is the first time I've ever seen them get along that well." I said.

"You're not busy at the moment, right?" Coco asked.

"Not particularly, why?" I asked.

"How about a little sparing? I think we could both use a little loosening up after all the excitement tonight." She said.

"Sure, why not." I said.

We walked out of the dorm and I pulled my scroll out to let Hailey know. Before I could though Coco took it from me. She shook her head and put a finger to her mouth. She mouthed 'Play along.'

"We'll have to stop by my dorm first. Hope you don't mind." She said.

"Yeah sure no problem." I said confused.

She pulled out her scroll and typed something out before putting it away. When we got to her dorm, she hurried me in and threw Fox my scroll. He ran some device over it while Yatsuhashi did the same to my clothes.

I heard a voice in my head "It's clean."

"So is he." Yatsuhashi said.

"So, can someone explain what that was all about?" I asked.

"What do you know about your teammates?" Coco asked.

"Not a lot actually. Normally I'm hanging with Pyrrha and her team or team RWBY. I haven't really asked about them. I know their weapons. Other than that, you saw their personalities. The only difference is Ariana is usually flirtier." I said.

"How much do they know about you?" She asked.

"Not a lot as far as I'm aware. I might have mentioned something about my sister and why I wear the mask other than that I don't think I've mentioned much." I said.

"If you have to lie about yourself. Tell Hailey to do the same. Make sure both of you have a password on your scrolls. Make sure they are difficult." She said.

"Okay, but why?" I asked.

"Didn't you find it odd at all that they had outfits ready like they'd done that before?" Coco said.

"I didn't really think about it much." I said.

"They had outfits and a fake name ready. They've clearly done something like this before. There's something not right about them. For your safety and Hailey's don't tell them anything about yourselves. Make shit up if you must. There's a possibility they have a tracker or bug on some of your clothes. We'll let you borrow a device that can pick them out. Don't use it unless you're alone in the room. Keep it hidden at all costs. It'll be able to detect any hidden bugs and short them out. If there are any, they will think they just happened to break. I'd make sure you check often." She said.

"There's always a chance we're wrong, but it's not likely." The voice said.

"Okay who keeps talking in my head?" I asked.

Fox raised his hand.

"His semblance is telepathy." Coco said.

"Okay, you'll excuse me if I'm a little overwhelmed by all this. It's a lot of information to take in at once." I said.

"I suppose that's fair. I'm not saying your teammates are criminals. It just seems a little odd that they had all that stuff ready to go. Add in the fact that you said they've never gotten along as well as we saw. Especially since you said you were gonna talk to Ozpin about a team change because they weren't getting along." She said.

"We're not the only ones who are suspicious. Ozpin is too. He wouldn't tell us why, but he asked us to keep an eye on your team." Yatsuhashi said.

"If they are criminals or something like that it seems odd that they argue so much. I know I haven't seen any of them together very often." Fox said.

Can you think of anything else odd you've noticed about them?" Coco asked.

"Well this morning Proton was going off saying Archer was lucky he and Ariana hadn't quit yet. That having to put up with his BS wasn't worth it. I thought he might have meant leaving Beacon. I put out the idea of swapping teammates and he said, 'this gig was getting old anyway.' Other than that, I haven't noticed anything. I did think it was odd that during initiation they had already made it to the temple before me. I practically flew farther than anyone and they still beat me and needed a fourth person. I just looked at it as a coincidence." I said.

"I don't think there is any coincidences. Something is up with them." Fox said.

"What was it you said about him and information?" Coco asked.

"He told me a while ago that any piece of information can prove useful no matter how trivial." I said.

"Information gathering, Explosives expert and fem fatal. All they need is a chump to take the fall." Fox said.

"Ouch." I said.

"It's mean, but not inaccurate. It sounds like they're slipping with the information. Since you haven't asked any questions, they probably think you haven't caught on. The best bet would be to continue acting as though you don't suspect them." Yatsuhashi said.

"There was something odd I noticed. There was a tone change when Hailey mentioned her condition. Like it hit a nerve in Archer. Proton seemed to have a similar reaction." Coco said.

"Well I mean it's not a fun topic." I said.

"While true, it seemed out of character. They almost seemed more compassionate for her situation. The was Ariana described them on the way to your dorm fit what we've noticed to a T. Archer seems to leave the room very little unless it involves class or food. Whereas Proton is hardly in the room at all. He's usually outside alone testing his explosives or walking around listening to something on his scroll." Coco said.

"What have you noticed about Ariana?" I asked.

"When she's not flirting with some of the students, she seems to spend a lot of time in the library." Fox said.

"Either way something about her hit a nerve with them. It doesn't seem to fit." Coco said.

"Maybe a similar situation with a former partner that didn't end as well?" Fox said.

"Maybe." Coco said.

"So now what?" I asked.

"Well first let's call Ozpin and set up that meeting for Monday." Coco said pulling out her scroll.

She put the scroll on the desk and pushed the speaker button. After a few rings the other line finally picked up.

"Ms. Adel. Is there something I can help you with this evening?" Ozpin asked.

"Figured you'd like a bit of an update on the TRAP case." Coco said.

"Go on." Ozpin said.

"Well Cian you're up." Coco said.

"Wait what?" I said.

"Mr. Riley. How much have they filled you in on?" Ozpin said.

"Pretty much that you're suspicious of the rest of my team and that you put them in charge of keeping an eye on them. I'm still processing the rest." I said.

"He pretty much knows as much as we do." Coco said.

"I trust you have a good reason letting him know his team has been under surveillance?" Ozpin said.

"Figured the best way to have them watched was from the inside." Coco said.

"And what have you learned?" Ozpin asked.

"I was in their room earlier and there is definitely something off about them. I'll give you a better report in the morning. If they are a team though it looks like there could be some trouble in paradise. Sounds like they had a fight this morning that nearly caused one of them to quit." Coco said.

"Is this true Mr. Riley?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah, the team had a major fight this morning and Proton nearly quit because of it. We'd been having issues since day one." I said.

"I see. Anything else to report?" Ozpin asked.

"Well there is something else, but it's a bit of a sore subject." Coco said.

"Mr. Riley, would this have to do with what Ms. Nikos and you talked with Glynda about yesterday?" Ozpin said.

"Yeah…" I said.

"Do the rest of you know about this?" Ozpin asked.

"I do, Fox and Yatsu don't." Coco said.

"I shouldn't need to remind anyone that what is discussed between us stays between us. That being said. Go on." Ozpin said.

"Well with how Hailey's teammates have been treating her, and after the fight this morning. I had planned to try to talk to you tomorrow about possibly switching her with either Proton or Archer." I said.

"I see. Given what you've learned tonight. What do you think the best course of action would be?" Ozpin asked.

"My guess would be to keep our team together. That way it would be easier to keep watch on them." I said.

"That would be a good idea. Ms. Adel What do you think?" Ozpin asked.

"Well either way we need to get Hailey out of that dorm, at least until this situation with Cardin has been dealt with. If it were up to me though I think we should swap Archer with Hailey. We could have Archer work for us as a double agent to learn more about what Cardin and his team have been doing while also keeping an eye on him. However, that would leave Cian's team without a leader. Given what I've seen I'd recommend him to take over. It's probably the best idea we have to keep them all here so they can all be watched. Now that Cian knows he can relay information to us to pass on to you." Coco said.

"Mr. Riley would you be willing to take over as team leader?" Ozpin asked.

"Wait, are you serious?" I asked.

"I'm guessing you agree with most of Ms. Adel's plan, but you gave the answer you thought I'd tell you correct?" Ozpin asked.

"Yeah. I want Hailey as far away from Cardin as possible until we can get the whole situation figured out. Plus, this would make it so Proton would stick around. It would probably put him in a better mood and want to be at the dorm more often so I could try befriending him better. I'm just not quite sure about the making me leader part. I'm not sure if I'm cut out for it." I said.

"Mr. Riley. We've been watching more than the rest of your team. We've been watching you as well. If Ms. Adel trusts you with this information and has given you her recommendation. Then I see no reason why you don't deserve it. Plus, we've seen that you do all you can to put those you care about first." Ozpin said.

"I mean that's what heroes do right?" I asked.

"Indeed." Ozpin said with a slight laugh. "We'll still have our meeting Monday after class so we can make it official with your teams. Congratulations young man."

"Thank you, sir. Oh, before you go there is one more thing." I said.

"I've already seen the video Mr. Riley. I also saw you stand up to Mr. Lark in the training hall this morning. These incidents will be a factor in our decision of what to do with team CRDL. In addition. I would recommend you spending a little extra time in the training hall. Glynda mentioned something about you needing a little work. It might not be a bad idea to spend some time in there tomorrow with Ms. Xiao Long or Ms. Valkyrie. It could be a good show for anyone who happens to watch." Ozpin said.

"Sir?" I asked.

"If anyone learns of anything else let me know." Ozpin said before hanging up.

"Why do I feel like there was some cryptic hidden message in that?" I asked.

"Maybe you and Hailey could have a tag match against Yang and Nora. I'd like to see what the two of you could do when you're working together." Coco said.

"I feel like there was a hidden meaning behind that too." I said.

"Well I'm sure the others are wondering where you might have gone. If they didn't have a recording device in the room." Yatsuhashi said.

"If they did what should I tell them? Obviously, we didn't go to the training hall." I said.

"You like video games?" Fox asked throwing me my scroll.

"Yeah. Why?" I asked.

"You played the new Mortal Kombat yet?" Fox asked.

"Not yet." I said.

"You were gonna head to the training room, but you saw me playing and you had to try it out." Fox said.

"Yeah I suppose that would work." I said.

"Just remember you can't mention anything we talked about to anyone. Not even Hailey. We'll have Velvet and Fox come get you guys after your meeting on Monday. We'll give her the short version for now." Yatsuhashi said.

"Welcome to the life of a double agent." Coco said putting her arm around me.

"Thanks. I think." I said.

Coco handed me the small device to search for bugs in my clothing, and I headed back to my dorm. When I got back Hailey was sitting on my bed. Archer was on his scroll and Proton was coming out of the kitchen.

"Where's Ariana?" I asked.

"She just went in for a shower. Where'd you disappear to?" Proton asked.

"Coco and I were gonna go down and spar a bit, but I caught Fox playing the new Mortal Kombat and I had to try it out. Kinda lost track of time." I said.

"I'm gonna try getting some sleep. Try not to make too much noise." Archer said.

"I'm probably gonna help Hailey get settled then I'm passing out too." I said.

"So, how is this gonna work?" Hailey asked.

"I don't think anyone's gonna complain if the two of you wanna sleep together. We all know nothing's gonna happen anyway. Plus, it might make Ariana a little jealous." Proton said.

"While that's ever so tempting. I think I have an extra blanket. If you're willing to part with one of the pillows, I'll take the floor for tonight." I said.

"I-I can take the floor. It's your bed after all." Hailey said.

"Take it. You're the guest. I'll be fine with the floor one more night." I said.

"A-alright. If you insist." Hailey said.

I took the spare pillow and blanket and laid out my sleeping arrangements for the night.

"Just try not to step on me if you wake up in the middle of the night." I said smiling.

"I'll try not to." Hailey said.

"I'll stay up a bit and make sure Ariana doesn't mess with you guys." Proton said.

"Thanks man." I said.

Proton turned the lamp on his desk on and turned the main light off. After a bit I heard Ariana come out and go right for her bed. Proton went to his shortly after. I waited a bit to make sure they were asleep, and I pulled out the stuffed bear Aelita snuck into my bag. It had a zipper on its back, so I put the device Coco gave me inside it.

"If you're having that much trouble sleeping you can have your bed back." Hailey whispered leaning over the side of the bed.

"It's not that. I… I was grabbing this… I'm sure you think I'm a child now huh?" I somewhat lied while showing her the bear.

"I mean I definitely wasn't expecting that. I don't think of you any less for it though." She whispered.

"Promise not to tell anyone?" I asked.

"About what?" She said smiling.

"Thanks, Goodnight." I whispered.

"Goodnight." She whispered back.


	5. Chapter 5

**What's up people! RebelKira here starting off the year with what has become the second most popular of my stories! I apologize for the long wait for a new chapter, but I'm back. As always if you enjoy what I'm doing here check out my other stories and including the new one I've started for Pokemon.**

 **CyanideLegend99: Why does everyone want me to fuck Cardin? Well either way thanks for the support!**

 **Jerrend: No Comment *eyes shifting back and forth***

 **On with the show!**

Then next morning I woke up and immediately went to make a pot of coffee. Archer had followed shortly after me.

"If you don't mind me asking. What is your plan for talking to Ozpin tomorrow?" He asked.

"I'm basically gonna lay out both team's situations, and bring up what Cardin's been doing to Hailey, Jaune and I." I said grabbing my mug out of the cupboard. "You want some?"

"No thanks. I wonder how far you've thought this plan though. If Mr. Winchester's team has been victimizing the lot of you wouldn't it be better to keep at a distance from Ms. Sakura rather than getting closer to her? There wouldn't be any alternate reasons that are clouding your judgement are there?" He asked.

"There's no other reason. I just wanna help her. Isn't that what being a huntsman is about? Helping people?" I asked.

"I suppose so. However, with her teammate Ms. Mellow dating one of his teammates. Mr. Lark I believe. This swap idea of yours would no doubt only serve to infuriate him more." He said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Say your plan succeeds and say Proton switches with Ms. Sakura. Once Mr. Winchester learns that Proton was a former member of your team. He'll no doubt be infuriated assuming it you had something to do with it not caring whether it's true or not. Wanting even more revenge on you. Meaning he would be out for blood." He said.

Before I could respond, the coffee maker dinged. I poured myself some and sat across from Archer at the table. I took a drink and set the mug on the table.

"Of course, I know that." I said in a serious tone.

"Then why are you going through all this trouble?" He asked.

"I'd do the same for anyone else. If I see someone in trouble I wanna help them. Being a huntsman means selflessly throwing yourself into harms way do protect something, or in this case someone. I know I'm painting a target on my back and making it bigger with every action I take. I don't care." I said.

Archer was silent for a moment. "I see." He got up from the table and started towards the door. "I'll leave you with this to think about. Do you think anyone here would go to these lengths for you?" He walked out of the kitchen.

'Before last night I would have hoped the three of you would have.' I thought.

Hailey came staggering in shortly after he'd left looking like she could easily fall asleep standing up.

"Morning." She said groggily.

"Morning. You want anything for breakfast? Some coffee maybe?" I asked.

"I don't really like coffee… I don't suppose you have any Pumpkin Pete's?" She asked.

"I'm afraid not." I said.

"Aww… Orange Juice?" She asked.

"I think so." I said with a slight laugh. I got up and looked in the fridge. "Looks like we do."

"Can I have some with a couple pieces of toast please?" She asked.

"Sure. You want anything on it?" I asked.

"Just a little peanut butter please." She said.

"No problem." I said.

I made her the toast and got poured her a cup of orange juice. Once she started eating, she slowly seemed to wake up more.

"So, I was thinking we could head to the training hall with Yang today. I thought about inviting Coco too so I can actually get some training in with her this time. Figure an upperclassman would be able to give us some decent tips." I said.

"Sure." She said.

"Unless you have something you'd rather do?" I asked.

"If it's not too much trouble… I'd kinda like to just get away from the school for a bit." She said.

"No problem. Anything in particular you'd like to do?" I asked.

"Not really." She said.

"Alright then, how about we see if Velvet and Coco have any ideas. They'd know the city better than about anyone else at this point." I said.

"Okay." She said with a small smile.

"Cool. I'll message her to have them pick us up." I said getting up to pour another cup.

"Hey, Cian." She said.

"Yeah?" I asked.

"I'm really sorry about the way I acted when we first met…" She said.

"Don't worry about it. Given the circumstances I don't blame you for distrusting someone you didn't know." I said.

"I still feel bad about it…" She said. I walked over and pinched her arm. "Ouch."

"There. We're even." I said smiling.

"No, we're not… I don't even know where to start to repay you." She said.

"I never said you had to." I said.

"But…" She started.

"Hailey, you don't need to do anything to repay me." I said.

"Okay." She said smiling with a slight blush.

"R-right. So, I'll go ahead and message Coco. I-if you wanna go grab a shower quick go ahead. I'll take care of the dishes while I wait for her to message me back." I said with a slight blush myself.

"Thanks." She said before heading out the door.

I messaged Coco and started doing the dishes. She messaged back saying they would meet us in about an hour. I finished the dishes and went out to get some clothes to change into. Archer and Ariana appeared to have already left with Proton still being asleep. Hailey came out of the bathroom wearing a white long sleeve shirt with light pink petals on it and black capris.

"Did she respond?" She asked.

"Y-yeah. They'll be here in about a half hour." I said.

"Is something wrong?" She asked.

"No, I just liked your outfit." I said.

"Oh, well thank you." She said blushing.

"Anyway, I'm gonna jump in the shower before they get here." I said.

"Alright." She said.

I went in and once I was finished, I came out wearing a white shirt and jeans. Hailey had put on a light blue jacket. Proton had finally woken up and staggered to the bathroom as soon as I got out.

"Good to go?" I asked.

"Yeah." She said.

I went over and grabbed a pocketknife from under my bed.

"Why are you bringing that?" She asked.

"Never know when it could come in handy." I said.

A couple minutes later Coco and Velvet showed up at our room. We'd made it a few steps down the hall before Coco stopped.

"Shoot I forgot my scroll." Coco said.

"Again?" Velvet said.

"Hey, at least I remembered before we left the school this time. Sorry, we'll have to make a quick detour." Coco said.

"That's fine." Hailey said.

When we got to their dorm we went in and Yatsuhashi closed the door behind us.

"I had a feeling you didn't forget it." I said.

"Ozpin gave us permission to let Hailey in on the plan since she's heavily involved." Coco said.

"What plan?" Hailey asked.

"Your little hero here managed to seal the deal. Tomorrow you'll be changing teams. You'll join Cian's team and Archer will be taking your place." Coco said.

"What?" Hailey asked.

"Yeah, the only people who know though are you, me and team CFVY. So, we'll have to keep it under wraps for now until tomorrow." I said.

"I can't believe it." Hailey said with tears forming in her eyes.

"You can thank him once we get to town. There's more we have to go over first." Coco said.

"There's another reason we're doing this. We have reason to believe that the rest of Cian's team are actually working for someone else. That they are here undercover. The problem is we don't know what they could possibly be after." Yatsuhashi said.

"As of now you and Cian aren't allowed to reveal anything truthful about yourselves to them. The less actual information they have on the two of you the better. You'll need to make sure you both have passwords on your scrolls. This comes straight from Ozpin himself. We have no proof that they are criminals of any kind, but we'd rather be safe than sorry." Coco said.

"Just so you know, we don't necessarily think you'll be in any danger just being on their team. There are just some things that don't add up about them and seem too odd to ignore. So, we just want to take precautions in case our suspicions are right." Velvet said.

"Obviously they'll know who your friends are, we can't stop that, but most of your friends aren't pushovers either. We just don't want too much important information getting out." Yatsuhashi said.

"This way too you can look out for anything suspicious from them. They seem to have been slipping with information lately and not realizing it. Again, we have no official leads, just being cautious." Coco said.

"I know this is a lot to take in, especially with everything else you've had to deal with. We just don't wanna see anything worse happen to you." I said.

"Some of us more than others." Fox said.

"It's gonna take a bit for me to process this." Hailey said.

"Understandable. At least this should be easier than having to deal with Cardin." I said.

"I can't argue that." Hailey said.

"Alright now that that's out of the way. Shall we get going?" Coco asked.

"Sure." Hailey said smiling.

The four of us headed out of the dorms to the airships. We boarded one and started heading for the city.

"So, what do you guys wanna do?" Velvet asked.

"That's kinda why we asked you to come along. Since you've been here longer, you'd know the city better than I would." I said.

"Yeah, I don't really know the city either." Hailey said.

"Haven't either of you been at all since coming here?" Coco asked.

"A couple times, but I didn't spend a lot of time there." I said.

"I've really only gone when I went with Cian and teams RWBY and JNPR." Hailey said.

"If you don't mind me asking, where are you guys from?" Velvet asked.

"I'm from Mistral. The Capital City actually." Hailey said.

"You're from Mistral too?" I asked.

"Yeah, where do you live?" Hailey asked.

"In a small village in the southern part of the continent." I said.

Hailey went silent for a bit before she burst out laughing.

"I think we're missing something." Coco said.

Hailey finally calmed down enough to speak.

"So, ever since I met Cian something about him seemed familiar. I just remembered what it was." Hailey said before she started laughing again.

It finally hit me what she was talking about.

"Oh no." I said bringing my hand to my forehead.

"He was the last one our airship picked up before coming to Beacon. He tripped on the edge and fell face first onto the floor of the ship." Hailey said.

This caused Velvet and Coco to start laughing.

"You know Pyrrha never laughed at me for it." I said crossing my arms.

"I-I'm sorry okay." Hailey said.

"You know, I don't think I've seen you laugh this much since we met. I'll let it slide. This time." I said.

We arrived in the city and started walking around.

"Alright, so we have some options. There's a huge mall on the southern side. About any store you could think of is there. There's a park on the west side. Plenty of restaurants all over. Couple different movie theaters." Coco said.

"The theaters won't start playing anything till at least this afternoon though." Velvet said.

"Your choice Hailey." I said.

"We could start with the mall." Hailey said.

"I was hoping you'd say that." Coco said.

She led us towards the mall and listed off some of the stores her and Velvet tend to visit more often. I think Hailey and I underestimated just how big this mall was as we were both stunned.

"This place is about as big as the school." I said.

"Yep, there should be enough people around that you won't need to stick around with us the entire time. No one would be dumb enough to try anything with all these people around. We'll meet in the food court in a few hours." Coco said.

"Sounds good to me." I said.

"Have fun you two." Coco said with a wink before her and Velvet walked away.

"I feel like she had a hidden meaning with the way she said that" Hailey said.

"I get that feeling almost every time she talks" I said.

"So, where would you wanna go first?" She asked.

"Well I thought about checking out one of the bookstores, but if you wanna do something else we can." I said.

"I don't mind." She said.

"Alright." I said.

We checked one of the maps in the mall and headed for one of the bookstores. At least we tried anyway. We got lost pretty quickly along the way and had to check another map about three times before finally finding it. We were both pretty sure we checked at least one of the maps twice. We looked around the store a bit and each ended up getting a couple books.

"Alright, I picked this place, so the next place is yours." I said.

"Well, I think I saw a tea shop around here somewhere." She said.

"Works for me." I said.

We walked around again and eventually found the shop. Hailey looked around at the different variety's they had giving me brief descriptions for each.

"No way, they have White Dragon Bush. This only grows in remote areas of Mistral. It's so rare to find." She said.

"I'm gonna guess it's pretty good going off your reaction." I said.

"It's said to be so delicious, it's heartbreaking." She said.

"I'm guessing you'll be getting some then?" I asked.

"I wish. The rarity of it makes it incredibly expensive." She said.

"What like eighty Lien?" I asked.

 **(Note: for this story Lien will be equal to USD)**

"Try five-thousand for fifty grams. At three grams a cup that equals up to about three hundred lien for one cup." She said.

"Are you serious?" I asked astonished.

"Yeah, I'd love to get some but there's no way I could afford that. Oh well, a girl can dream." She said.

She ended up purchasing some jasmine tea instead.

"So, I hope you don't mind me putting this in your room when we get back. Since I'll be moving in anyway." She asked.

"Nah, but since they aren't supposed to know about that yet, I'll just tell them your doing it because you don't want your team messing with it. Whether it's a lie or not having met your team I think they'd buy it either way." I said.

"Thanks. Honestly I'd probably believe it too." She said getting a little disheartened.

"Hey how about we head for the food court?" I suggested.

"Sure." She said.

"I'll message Coco and let her know we're heading over." I said.

We spent some time looking for the food court as well as trying to decide what we wanted. I ended up getting a cheeseburger and fries while she ended up getting chicken fried rice. We sat down and started eating.

"You know I have to admit this is probably the happiest I've seen you since we met." I said.

"How could I not be happy? I got probably the best night sleep I've had since I left home. I get told that I'm getting away from those assholes and put on a new team. Meaning I'll get some distance from Cardin. We've got plans to finally take him down for everything he's done. On top of that I'm just away from him in general today. There's probably only a couple things that could make this day any better." She said.

"Like what? If there's something I can help with I'll do it." I said.

"W-well umm…I-I'd kinda like it if… I… could…" She started nervously. "Unlock my semblance." She finished halfheartedly.

"Oh, well unfortunately I'm not sure I could help you with that." I said.

"I-I know… It would just be nice. I-It would at least be one less thing for people to make fun of me for." She said.

"It'll happen one day. Just try and stay positive about it." I said.

She gave a small smile. "I hope so."

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you mean by the best night sleep since you left home?" I asked.

"Well… the first couple nights I had a hard time getting to sleep, but I figured it was just from being in a new place. Then after Cardin started harassing me every night just gave me more and more nightmares. Last night though, I'm not sure what it was but I didn't have a single bad dream." She said.

"That's good at least. Maybe just knowing you were in a safe place helped. You know like it made it so you were able to keep calm all night." I said.

"Maybe." She said with a slight blush.

"Hey, you okay? Your cheeks are getting kinda red." I said.

"I'm fine I guess I was just thinking about the dream I did have last night." She said.

"Oh? What happened?" I asked.

"Oh, well… umm…" She started.

Before she could continue explaining Coco and Velvet finally showed up.

"So, what do you guys think of this place?" Coco asked.

"I think we'd only managed to go to a fraction of it. The rest of the time we spent lost." I said.

"Well at least you two know what you can do on your next date." Coco said.

"D-date?" Hailey said getting very red.

"Doesn't 'next' imply we've already been on a date?" I asked confused.

Coco and Velvet sat in silence for a moment.

"Never mind. So, do you guys wanna look around some more or head back?" Coco asked.

"Well Ozpin did suggest I get some training in. So, we should probably head back." I said.

"Y-yeah, I could probably use some training as well." Hailey said a little dejected.

Coco mumbled something while standing up.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Nothing, Let's head back." Coco said.

The four of us made our way back to the airship and eventually back to Beacon. I messaged Yang to have her meet us for some training. After Hailey and I dropped our stuff off in my dorm and gave a brief lie to Proton why we were leaving her stuff in here. Yang stopped by with Pyrrha and Ren. We stopped by our lockers and grabbed our gear. Unfortunately, Ruby was still working on my gloves, so I had to train without them. Hailey came out with two tonfas on each side of her wearing black gloves with her hair in a ponytail. Since we hadn't seen Hailey fight yet, we decided to let her go first against Ren.

Hailey grabbed her weapons and started spinning them. Her weapons started sparking with electricity. The two fighters charged at each other trading hits back and forth Hailey seemed to keep the advantage with the electricity causing extra damage to Ren. Ren managed to hook one of his blades on the hilt of her weapon and kicked her back ripping it out of her hand. He started firing at her causing Hailey to spin her remaining weapon to try blocking his shots. It was only a matter of time until Hailey's Aura had gone below twenty percent.

"That's enough." Pyrrha called out.

The two fighters stopped, and the electricity started fading from Hailey's remaining tonfa. The final score being forty-seven to nineteen.

"Not bad. If I hadn't managed to get one of your weapons away the outcome could have been different." Ren said.

"Although using lightning dust against Ren probably wasn't the best starting strategy. With Nora's semblance and all." Yang said.

"Nora's semblance?" Hailey asked.

"She can produce and channel electricity. Enhancing her strength." Ren said.

"So, he pretty much already had plenty of experience dealing with it." Yang said.

"Regardless you still held your own fairly well against him." Pyrrha said.

"Well at least I'll know for next time. I've been meaning to upgrade them anyway." Hailey said.

"Maybe when Ruby's done with my gloves, we can have her take a look at them. If anything, she could probably give you some ideas." I said.

"Sounds good. I mean as long as she's willing." Hailey said.

"I'm sure she'll be more than willing." Yang said.

"So, how about a rematch Yang?" I asked.

"You sure that's a good idea with a handicap?" Yang asked jokingly.

"Should be fine." I said pulling my swords out and spinning them.

"Alright, just remember you asked for this." Yang said.

We took our stances ready to fight when a voice rang out.

"Riley!" Cardin yelled out. "I thought I was very fucking clear the last time we talked." His team was following closely behind him.

Yang and Pyrrha stepped to my side while Ren stepped in front of Hailey each of them ready to fight.

"Back off Cardin." Yang said sternly. Her eyes had changed from their normal lilac color to red.

"Shut up you fucking bimbo. This is between me and him." Cardin said.

"This became about me when you attacked my sister for no reason!" Yang yelled.

"There was a reason alright. She dug her nose into where it didn't belong. Keep this up we'll do the same thing to you." Cardin said walking up to me.

"Hailey isn't your property. Leaver her the fuck alone." I said.

"Oh, is the little superhero gonna actually do something this time? Get the fuck out of my way before I put you in the ground." Cardin said.

"You know not once have you ever had the guts to take me on alone. You've always had to use your goons. I don't think you could beat me one on one no. I think you'd be too scared to." I said.

Cardin punched me across the face knocking me to the ground. Yang and Pyrrha stepped in front of me even more pissed off.

"You really think I'm scared of a little bitch like you? Tell your little cheer squad to back off and I'll show you just how fucking wrong you are." Cardin said.

"Or we could jump you like you do to everyone else here." Yang said.

"No. Step aside." I said getting off the ground.

"You're kidding right?" Yang asked.

"No, I'm not. I'll fight you one on one. On one condition. If I win you stay away from Hailey and stop bullying everyone else." I said.

"Yeah sure whatever. If I win you and your little hero club stay away from her." Cardin said.

"Cian. Don't so this." Hailey said.

"You don't have to do this." Pyrrha said.

"I'm done being pushed around by him. I'm not backing down this time." I said.

Cardin gave a small laugh. "Your funeral. You heard him back off."

"Fine, but if any of your teammates get involved, we will too." Yang said.

"Whatever." Cardin said. He signaled for his team to back up.

I picked up my swords and got ready to face him.

I started charging my semblance into my swords. He started rushing me and I slashed towards him with both my weapons. He swung his mace and bashed though both beams I'd fired off. He went for and overhead smash, but I was able to block it with my blades. I charged my right foot, but he was able to kick me back before I could launch it. I charged my chest plate as I was getting up. He knocked my swords away from me and swung at my chest. I released the energy in my chest plate knocking his mace away from him. He quickly regrouped and tackled me to the ground. We rolled on the ground laying into each other with punches. I managed to get on top and use the energy in my right foot to get up and distance myself from him. I was starting to breath fairly heavily. I looked and saw our auras were at twenty-two and thirty-six. He was still leading. I ran towards one of my swords, but he managed to get it first and got a hard slash on me. Depleting my aura and cutting into my left arm.

"That's enough." Pyrrha said.

"Oh, we're not finished yet." Cardin said turning the sword over, so he was holding it upside down.

Cardin's teammates stepped in front of Yang and Pyrrha.

"His aura is gone Cardin, you already won. Now back off!" Yang yelled.

"You really thought I would stop at a simple victory like that? No, I'm gonna make sure this little fuck never gets in my way again." Cardin said.

Pyrrha, Yang and Ren tried to rush in to stop him but were cut off by his teammates.

"Any last words?" Cardin asked.

I tried standing up. "I'm not done."

"Defiant to the end. Stupid, but I respect that." Cardin said. He flipped the sword around again and swung for my neck.

"NO!" Hailey yelled out.

The sword stopped inches from my throat. I looked and saw Cardin with a strained look on his face. He slowly backed up in a jerking motion. I looked over to see Hailey with her left arm stretched out with her hand shaking in a claw position. Cardin's hands shot out in front of him and he turned the sword around, so the blade was pointing at him. They slowly brought the tip of the sword to his cheek as it sliced downward. I didn't know what was going on, but I could tell Hailey was somehow the cause of it. Cardin began screaming out in pain as the blade dug into his face. I got up and limped as fast as I could over to Hailey. By the time I got to her the blade had created a large gash on the right side of his face with blood pouring down from it. Cardin's teammates were now trying to break though to get to Hailey.

"Hailey you have to stop before you do something you'll regret." I pleaded.

I looked back to see the blade move to the other side of his face and start the same process.

"Hailey please, I know he did horrible things to you, but you need to stop." I said. I grabbed onto her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. Her gaze hadn't moved it was like she couldn't even tell I was there.

I looked back again to see that he had pulled the sword back again and had slowly lowered it to his neck.

"Hailey stop!" I yelled. She didn't move. "Please forgive me." I slapped her across the face and her hand fell to her side.

The sword dropped from Cardin's hands as he fell to his knees. His teammates quickly rushed over and helped him up and carried him out of the training room.

Hailey stood quietly as her mind finally caught up with what just happened. She looked at her hand as tears started falling down her face. She dropped to her knees and started crying loudly. I got down and wrapped my arms around her.

"It's alright. It's over. You're okay." I said.

"I-I almost killed him! I-I… I'm a monster…" Hailey started.

"You're not a monster." I said.

"Yes I am! I-I was about to kill him! I wanted to kill him… If you hadn't stopped me…" She cried.

"It's okay. No one's upset with you." I said. I pulled her closer and rubbed her back.

"I'm so sorry!" She cried.

"It's alright. I'm just glad you're safe." I said.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm back baby! I know normally I promote TheBurningRuler or Nightmare 6-4 but this time I want you guys to go check out a new author to the site Keyblade Guardian Ace. He's got good ideas for stories and I finally convinced (corrupted) him to try writing one of them out. Anyway, on to the reviews.**

 **SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Normally yes, however I wanted Cardin and his team to seem like more of a threat.**

 **Jerrend: I confirm nothing! *jumping out the window***

"We should get you to the infirmary." Pyrrha said.

"We'll take care of Hailey." Yang said.

I finally noticed the blood running down my arm.

"Alright." I said.

Yang and Ren took Hailey out of the training hall and Pyrrha and I headed for the infirmary. When we got there Cardin's teammates were leaving. They looked pissed. Russel walked up to us.

"If you thought what we did to you was bad before. You and that faunus bitch are in for a rude awakening. What little life you have left will be a fucking nightmare." Russel said.

The three of them left and we walked in. The doctor patched me up but informed me I was to stay until Ozpin arrived.

"Why would Ozpin be coming in?" Pyrrha asked.

"Probably just because of who was involved in the 'accident.' Plus, I'm sure Cardin and his team lied about what actually happened." I said.

"What did happen? We were distracted trying to stop Cardin's team from getting to Hailey we didn't get a good look." She asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. Cardin was about to stab me and then he stopped. I looked over and Hailey's holding her hand out and it was like she was controlling him somehow. I think she finally unlocked her semblance. Much to her dismay." I said.

"I can't believe that she would actually try to kill Cardin though." She said.

"That's the thing though. It's like she was in a trance. I tried talking her out of it, but it's like nothing was getting though to her. I don't know if that is part of it or what happened. I know she wanted him dead, but she wouldn't actually try to kill him." I said worried.

"Once everything has calmed down, we can try talking to her." She said. I think she could tell it was still bothering me. "Once we're done talking with Ozpin we'll go check on her."

"Do you think I did the right thing?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Do you think I should have fought him?" I asked.

"It probably wasn't the smartest decision, but your heart was in the right place." She said.

"Well said Ms. Nikos." Ozpin said entering the room.

"I can explain." I said.

"Please do." He said sitting in the chair across the room.

I told him all of the events leading up to me and Cardin being admitted to the infirmary.

"You witnessed and can attest to all of this Ms. Nikos?" He asked.

"Yes." She said.

"I'll be matching the stories with the footage in order to make my decision. For now, I suggest the two of you return to Ms. Sakura. If what you've told me is true, she'll need all the support she can get." He said about to leave the room

"How bad is Cardin's condition?" I asked.

"He's stable. A day or so here and he'll be released." He said heading out of the room.

"I'm kinda surprised you asked about Cardin." Pyrrha asked.

"Hailey has enough to worry about already. I didn't want her to have death on her hands too." I said.

The two of us rushed to team RWBY's dorm. When we got there Hailey was sitting on Weiss' bed with Ruby sitting next to her trying to comfort her.

Before we could shut the door, it was pushed open by a girl with long brown hair with white tips wearing a dark orange flannel shirt with a white puffer vest overtop and black pants.

"What the hell is your problem!" The girl yelled storming over to Hailey.

She was soon followed by a guy with light purple temple fade hair wearing a white shirt, a gray waistcoat and an open long white overcoat and white pants. Along with another girl with dark brown hair in a ponytail wearing a white ruffled blouse, a light brown pleated skirt with a maroon cloak.

"Just cause you have some problem with Sky's team doesn't give you the right to attempt to kill them!" The light brown haired girl said.

"Um, excuse me, but who the hell do you think you are bursting into our dorm and bitching her out like that?" Yang asked trying to push her way in front of Hailey.

"Besides what happened was an accident." Pyrrha said trying to calm the situation down.

"Mars Mellow. Her team leader. She's got some fucking bullshit problem with Cardin and I'm supposed to believe that her trying to kill him was an accident. If you believe that I've got some real estate in Atlas I'll sell you. I don't get why the hell you people keep defending her. You've gotta be pretty fucking delusional to believe whatever lies she's been feeding you all." Mars said.

"You're the delusional one of you can't see she's been crying for help from you assholes. Poor excuse for a leader too." Yang said.

"What on Remnant would make you think she's faking being attacked by Cardin?" Ruby asked.

"He's a bully to multiple other students. For all the harm he's caused others he got what he deserved!" Nora yelled.

"Bullying? The people here are training to be huntsman and huntresses. If they can't handle a little heckling from other students then they have no reason being here." The purple haired guy said.

"That doesn't make it right to ignore your teammate when she's constantly harassed!" I yelled.

"This coming from the kid who wants to keep playing superhero like he's still five. Grow up. She's just making you all feel sorry for her. If it wasn't true she'd be defending herself right now. Instead she's just sitting there quietly because she knows the truth is finally out to all of you." Mars said.

"Get out." Ruby said sternly.

"Whatever. Don't say we didn't warn you idiots." Mars said.

The three of them walked out with Yang slamming the door behind them.

"And with that I'm finally convinced Jaune is qualified to be a leader if that thing can be one." Weiss said.

"Figures they get along perfectly with Cardin's team. They're just as horrible people." Yang said.

I walked over and sat next to Hailey.

"It'll be okay. What happened was just an accident You have witnesses that can back you up. Pyrrha and I already explained what happened to Ozpin." I said.

"I wish I'd never unlocked my semblance…" Hailey said quietly.

"It may not be what you'd have hoped for, but there is one positive that came out of it." I said.

"How could anything positive come from this…" Hailey asked.

"There's a good change you saved my life." I said.

Hailey looked at me with a hint of confusion.

"Cardin was probably looking to kill me in there. If you hadn't stopped him There's a good chance I might not be here anymore." I said.

"He's right, as grim as it may seem now, if you hadn't intervened the ending could have been much worse." Pyrrha said.

"I… guess I hasn't thought about that…" Hailey said.

I stood up and kneeled down in front of her.

"My lady, my life is forever in your debt. Whatever you wish I shall do all I can to make it a reality." I said.

"Th-that's not necessary." Hailey said her face growing red and a slight smile.

"I did get you to smile though." I said.

"C-can we just head back to your room? I think some tea would help right now." Hailey said.

"As you wish." I said.

Pyrrha and Weiss ended up walking to our room with us. When we entered the room Archer and Ariana were inside.

"Welcome back you two." Ariana said.

"Hey, I hope you guys don't mind if Hailey goes and makes some tea in our kitchen." I said.

"Not at all sugar." Ariana said.

"It's fine with me." Archer said.

"Thank you both." Hailey said making her way to the kitchen.

Once there Archer spoke again.

"I need to speak with you three." Archer said.

Weiss, Pyrrha, Archer and I went into the hallway.

"We have a situation. I don't know what happened with you and Ms. Sakura but apparently there are some rather uncomforting rumors starting to go around." Archer said.

"What like about them dating or something?" Weiss asked.

"Unfortunately, it's not as simple as that. If it were, I'd simply ignore it. Ariana heard some other student's mentioning that she tried killing all of team CRDL, as well as some other rumors to varying degrees of severity around the topic. I may not know a lot about the girl, but I find it hard to believe that she would be able to kill another student. Regardless of what he's already done to her. Some of these rumors involving you." Archer said.

"Of course, there is." I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"They sure don't waist any time trying to ruin her life." Pyrrha said.

"How are they able to keep getting away with this?" Weiss asked.

"I don't need to know the true details of what happened. I know regardless they most likely aren't true and completely fabricated, especially with who's involved. However, since you and Ms. Sakura are involved, I figured you should know." Archer said.

"Then why not tell her too?" Weiss asked.

"Because if these rumors spread so quickly in one afternoon with no prior spark. Clearly it was something bad that must have happened recently. Knowing tea can have calming effects I assumed whatever happened was stressful enough. Combined with her prior situation, I figured it would be better if she heard it from someone she trusted better. Since Cian has become her personal, guardian angel, if you will. I knew he'd do all he could to make things better for her, thus softening the blow." Archer said.

"I… I'm pretty sure there was a compliment in that. There's just a lot to take in with that statement." I said.

"We should probably return inside." Archer said.

"Right." I said exhausted.

"We'll let everyone else know about the situation." Weiss said.

"Let us know if you need anything." Pyrrha said.

"Thanks." I said.

The two of them walked away leaving Archer and I by the door.

"Do you have a plan?" Archer asked.

"I wish. This whole situation just keeps getting harder." I said.

"In my experience. The best thing to do is to stay by her side until things blow over. They always do eventually. With the coming storm she'll need someone by her to keep her from doing something drastic." Archer said.

"Sounds easier said than done." I said. 'Experience? What does he mean by that?'

"It will be. I don't doubt you'll be able to handle the task." He said before re-entering the room.

I followed in and went into the kitchen to check on Hailey. She had just finished pouring herself a cup when I waked in.

"How you doing?" I asked.

"I'd be better if this day never happened." She said.

"I mean it started out good right?" I asked.

"I guess so…" She said.

"I mean you got to remember my little mistake from the airship. We had a good time with Coco and Velvet, right?" I asked.

She gave a small smile before taking a sip of her tea.

"Yeah. Although I have a question." She said.

"What's up?" I asked.

"I know I asked this when we first met, but… Why do you care…? Why have you spent so much time worrying about me? I'm not trying to sound ungrateful, but I just have a hard time understanding why." She said.

I sat at the table and started rubbing my neck again.

"Like I said the first time. I saw someone who was a victim just like me. I never expected things to turn out like this though." I said.

"That's why I'm asking. If it was just simple bullying and hadn't turned into this, I feel I would be able to understand better. For some reason after you found out everything. Here you are still here. I don't understand." She said.

"Honestly… I'm not really sure either. Right now, I'm trying to think of a way to word what I'm thinking that doesn't make you sound like a nuisance, because you're not. At first it was because I just wanted to help you. Along the way I felt like we became good friends. I made it my goal to make sure things got better for you. I couldn't stand seeing you upset. I still hate it." I said.

"It means that much to you to see me smile?" She asked sitting across from me.

"It does. I can't explain why exactly." I said.

"You know you aren't gonna be able to protect me forever…" She said.

I gave a small laugh. "Destiny is a funny thing. You never know how things are going to work out. But if you keep an open mind and an open heart, who knows how things can turn out."

"You almost make it sound like you are gonna try to protect me forever." She said.

"I'm trying to say never give up hope on there being a brighter future. No matter how dark things seem to be. Maybe I won't be able to protect you forever. You never know though. Maybe someone will come along and they'll do a better job than me." I said.

"And if no one does?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. I'm sure we'll figure something out though" I said.

"I really don't understand you some days. Regardless, I'm glad we became friends. I'd hate to think how things might have gone if I hadn't met you that day." She said.

"Same." I said.

Shortly after there was a knock at our door. I got up to check it out but gestured for Hailey to stay put. I cracked the door open and looked out to see Archer answered the door to two of Hailey's teammates.

"Is this where Hailey is hiding out?" The light purple haired guy asked.

"Perhaps." Archer said blocking the door with Ariana right behind him. "State your business."

"We brought the rest of her shit. We just wanna know if this is where we're dumping it." He said.

"You're kicking her out?" Archer asked.

"I'm assuming your doing it without letting her know too?" Ariana asked.

"She's been nothing but a nuisance from the beginning anyway. Won't be long and she'll get kicked out anyway with what happened today. So it's not like she'll be your problem for long anyway." The dark brown haired girl said.

"Just hand us her stuff and go." Ariana said.

"We'll let her know, so don't bother. The less interactions she has with you the better." Archer said.

"Whatever." The guy said as the two of them each handed a box to my teammates.

The pair walked off and Archer closed the door.

"Those jackasses!" Ariana yelled.

I closed the door and turned to Hailey.

"What happened?" She asked worried.

"Well there's good news and bad news…" I said.

"What's the good news?" She asked.

"Well… you don't have to worry about your team anymore." I said nervously.

"What does that mean?" She asked.

Ariana entered the kitchen at that point with Archer following behind her.

"Ms. Sakura we have some troubling news." Archer said.

"Yeah… I was just getting to that…" I said.

"I'm sorry Hon, but your team sorta… kicked you out…" Ariana said.

"Two of your former teammates, Hydra and Tara I believe, dropped your stuff off." Archer said.

Hailey sat silent for a moment.

"So… what's the bad news?" She asked.

The three of us looked at each other unsure how to respond.

"I mean the only bad thing I can think of is that I'll have to be a burden to the four of you at least another day. Which I apologize for." Hailey said.

"There's a lot to unpack with that." I said.

"I can understand your shock, but it's up to Ozpin what happens with our teams after tomorrow right? So like I said I'm sorry you have to accommodate me another night. I-if that's alright I mean." Hailey said.

"It's not a problem Hon. I guess we're just a little surprised how well you're taking this news." Ariana said.

Archer nodded in agreement. "In that case I guess there's nothing more to discuss on the matter. I would recommend going though your stuff and make sure they didn't keep any of your belongings. With what they pulled it wouldn't surprise me. If anything is missing inform Ariana or I and we'll help you retrieve it." Archer said leaving the room. Ariana followed shortly after.

Hailey started laughing quietly slowly growing louder. Her laughter soon changed to crying. As if everything from the day hit her all at once.

I went to sit next to her, but she stood up and buried her face in my right shoulder and grabbed my shirt tight with her right hand. I felt my scroll go off and saw a message from Ariana.

"Archer and I are gonna step out. I made sure to lock the door. Let us know if you need anything." Ariana said.

"Thanks." I replied.

I walked Hailey out into the main room and sat on the edge of my bed with her.

"I'm so sorry…" Hailey said.

"You have nothing to apologize for. Besides, I have a plan." I said taking my scroll out again.

"What?" She asked.

"Check this out." I said showing her what I was typing.

"I don't get it. How is that gonna make anything better? From what you've told me this would more than likely just cause more issues." She said.

"Trust me this is gonna be awesome. Plus, whatever issues it causes is their problem, not yours." I said.

Once she calmed down Hailey began going though her stuff making sure everything was there.

"There's a few things missing but nothing important enough to go back for. It would just be easier to get new." She said.

"You sure? With what they pulled I'm sure Ariana would go full diva to get anything back. Might give you a good laugh." I said.

"The stuff I'm missing isn't worth dealing with them. Besides they'd probably just say I was lying anyway." Hailey said.

"That does remind me. Who we're the two who dropped your stuff off anyway?" I asked.

"The guy was Hyrda Ranger and the girl was Tara Meso. You met our two-faced bitch of a leader Mars earlier." She said putting her stuff back together.

Before I could respond I got a message letting me know my plan was on.

"I just got the confirmation on my plan. So, if you don't mind, care to tell me what you meant by the two-face remark?" I asked.

"Not much to tell. We hit it off okay during initiation. Once she started dating Sky and his team started hanging around she turned on me. I tried telling her what Cardin was doing to me. She never bothered to investigate it and thought I was just saying it to get attention. Then somehow she got the idea I was making that stuff up to try and steal Sky from her. No matter what I said she wouldn't listen. Then she turned the rest of the team on me." She said.

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said.

"It doesn't matter. I don't have to deal with her anymore so I don't care." She said.

"We don't know that for sure yet." I said trying to keep up the act.

"I do. I'm clearly not welcome there no matter what Ozpin decides… I guess if he doesn't grant me out I'll just leave Beacon…" She said.

I couldn't tell if she was doing this for an act or if she was serious. Maybe both.

"I'm not letting you give up." I said.

She perked up and looked at me. Like I had surprised her with my response.

"I-I mean… what kind of hero would I be if I just let you quit?" I said.

She let out a small chuckle. "Could always run away with me. We'll form our own team. You did pretty much promise to protect me the rest of my life anyway."

I could feel my face turn red. Making her laugh a little more.

I let out a sigh before I spoke again. "At least your smiling again."

"That's what you care about most right?" She asked.

"Yeah" I said smiling. 'That's the truth right? Why does it feel like a lie?'

I made Hailey and I something to eat since we'd missed dinner. My teammates came back about an hour later. Proton was given a brief rundown of the situation. I couldn't really tell if he cared or not. Either way he didn't have any objections to it. Hailey once again took my bed to sleep in.

The next morning the five of us got ready to head to classes. Coco informed us that she her team had to help with something this morning so she wouldn't be able to meet up with us. Ariana was more than happy to stay with us until classes. Archer and Proton went ahead.

"Before we go you two. Cian did you inform her about what Archer told you yesterday?" Ariana asked.

"No, with everything else I must have forgotten…" I said.

"What's going on now?" Hailey asked.

"Hon I'm afraid someone has started spreading rumors about you from whatever happened yesterday between you and team CRDL. Some of them are worse than others." Ariana said.

Hailey sighed. "I guess I should have expected that…"

"Sorry I didn't tell you." I said.

"It's alright. With everything else that happened last night this is kinda minor right?" Hailey said.

"Yeah. I mean they are just words, right?" I said. 'I'm amazed she's taking this so well.'

"Come on we should get going." Ariana said.

The three of us headed to our first class. Along the way I could tell Hailey was getting bothered by what the others were saying.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yeah, no problem… um, I know this is kinda weird but would it be okay if I held your hand…" Hailey asked.

"S-sure." I said. 'She just asked thinking it would calm her down. Right?'

I gave her my hand and I saw a small smile return to her face as well as a little blush. We continued to class with a quick stop in the cafeteria for me to get a cup of coffee. We got to class, and we saw Jaune and Weiss had arrived before anyone else so the two of us decided to sit with them.

"Hey guys. You doing alright Hailey?" Jaune asked.

"I've been better, but I guess there's no point in worrying too much until Ozpin makes his decision." Hailey said.

"Kinda weird to see the two of you together here so early." I said.

"Says the two that walked in holding hands." Weiss said.

The two of us blushed as if we'd both forgotten about that.

"I asked her to help me out with one of the assignments I was having trouble with." Jaune said.

"You know Weiss, if I didn't know better. I'd say you've warmed up to Jaune and I since we first met." I said.

"I will admit that while your first impressions were abysmal. The two of you have proven to be more dignified than I first anticipated." Weiss said.

"That was a compliment, right?" Jaune asked.

Weiss sighed and gave a small smile. "Yes."

"She's just glad we don't call her Ice Queen." I said.

"That… is a helpful benefit." Weiss said.

"Aww isn't this cute. All of the love birds are sitting together." Yang said as her, Ruby and Blake sat in the row behind us.

"What are you talking about?" Weiss and I both asked. While I was confused, Weiss seemed angry as usual.

"The four of you just look so cute in your couples." Yang said.

"You are so delusional if you think I'd date one of these two." Weiss said.

"Whatever you say Ice Queen." Yang said causing Hailey to laugh a bit.

"You seem to be in a good mood for everything that's happened since yesterday." Blake said.

"Especially since it seems to have only gotten worse since the fight with all the rumors." Weiss said.

"If only that'd been the end of it." Ariana said moving next to Hailey.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"Those asshole 'teammates' of hers kicked her out. Took all of her stuff and dropped it off with us." Ariana said.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Blake said.

"Can they even do that? Even without your meeting, which I assume they don't even know about, they can't expect that to go unnoticed by Ozpin." Weiss said.

"Guys I appreciate that you care, but don't worry about it. I'm sure it'll work out." Hailey said.

Jaune and team RWBY sat stunned by her response.

"It's good to see you being optimistic about this, but aren't you afraid you getting your hopes up?" Blake asked.

"She's right, nothing set in stone yet." Weiss said.

"Probably. I don't know what it is. I just have a good feeling things are gonna start getting better starting today." Hailey said.

"I hope you're right" Ruby said.

Doctor Oobleck came in shortly after to start class. After first period had ended he informed us that Ozpin wanted to see mine and Hailey teams immediately. The three of us met up with Archer and Proton and headed over towards Ozpin's tower. Outside the elevator we met up with Hailey's former teammates.

"I hope your fucking happy now. Sky and his team got expelled and it's your fault. I'm guessing whatever he wants our teams for is your fault too." Mars said clearly pissed.

'That must be what Coco's team was busy with.' I thought.

"Girl you may wanna wait till after Ozpin talks to us to stir up trouble. Might make things worse for yourself if ya don't." Ariana said.

"My boyfriend got kicked out, how could this get worse?" Mars asked.

"You could get demoted from team leader." Archer said.

"You could get kicked out." Ariana said.

"Could get dropped in a Grimm infested forest while handcuffed." Proton said.

"I was being sarcastic." Mars said.

"I'm well aware and do not care." Proton said.

Before Mars could respond, the elevator door opened, and we got on. When the door opened back, up the eight of us walked in and stood in front of Ozpin's desk. Team CFVY was standing in the back of the office by the doorway.

"I understand there have been multiple issues on both of your teams. From what I've heard there are issues that none of you are willing to cooperate with. The eight of you are supposed to be working together within your teams." Ozpin said.

"Sir if you would let me explain." Mars started. Ozpin held his hand up stopping her from continuing.

"Normally if my students refused to learn to cooperate with each other after this long they would be expelled. A good huntsman needs to be able to work with others regardless if they get along. I admit I've made some mistakes in my time as headmaster of this academy. However, I believe that expelling all of you would be a waste of good talent. Therefore, rather than doing the latter. I will be doing something that I have only had to do one other time as headmaster. I'll be switching members around between your teams. Ms. Sakura and Mr. Tealos. The two of two will be switching teams." Ozpin said.

"Yes sir." Archer and Hailey said. Archer with a hint of annoyance, and Hailey with relief.

"That's not all. It was brought to my attention, Ms. Mallow, that your team had intended to forcefully remove Ms. Sakura from your team last night. Is this true?" Ozpin asked.

"Sir I can explain." Mars started.

"Is it true?" Ozpin asked more firmly.

Mars sighed. "Yes sir."

"I shouldn't have to explain how disappointed I am with you and your team's actions." Ozpin said.

"Yes sir…" Mars said.

"That being said. Mr. Tealos and Mr. Riley. The two of you shall take over as leaders of your respected teams." Ozpin said.

"Yes sir." Archer and I said.

"This will be the final warning your teams get. If I hear that your teams still refuse to get along, I will have no other option than expulsion. Is that understood?" Ozpin asked.

"Yes sir." The eight of us said.

"Very well. You may return to your classes. Save for Ms. Sakura, Ms. Adel and Mr. Riley." Ozpin said.

Mars, Hydra and Tara were the first to head down. With Archer, Proton and Ariana heading down afterward with Velvet, Yatsuhashi and Fox.

"Ms. Sakura." Ozpin started in a calmer tone. "I'd like to express my apologies for what has happened to you since coming to Beacon. I expect my students to be more respectable than that. However, I understand that what happened to you isn't an easy topic to discuss in any form. That it can happen to anyone. I see a great deal of potential in you though. I know it isn't something you'll be able to overcome quickly. I think that if you can, you will become a great huntress."

"I really appreciate that sir." Hailey said.

"Mr. Riley, with the other members of your team being under watch. I must ask why you thought it would be a wise idea to have Archer placed as the new leader of Ms. Sakura's former team." Ozpin asked.

"Something about this last weekend showed a side of my teammates I'd never seen before. It was actually able to make them cooperate. Not only that it was to help someone they hardly knew. Maybe I'm being too trusting but something makes me feel like they aren't evil. I still feel like they are hiding something, but I'm not sure what anymore. Also, there may have been a small plan for a minor form of revenge against Hailey's ex-teammates for all they've put her though." I said.

"You'll understand if I'm suddenly less confident in your decision having told me that?" Ozpin asked.

"It's nothing that's gonna start a huge fight or anything. Just some minor inconveniencing" I said.

"Mr. Riley, I hope you know what you're doing. Seeing your actions lately and hearing what you've planned to help Ms. Sakura in particular. Not to mention the other students who were being abused by team CRDL. I am still on the fence about giving you this responsibility. I want you to prove that I've made the right decision." Ozpin said.

"I gave one hell of a recommendation too, so don't let me down kid." Coco said.

"I'll admit it's gonna take a bit to get used to this, but I don't intend on letting you down." I said.

"I look forward to it. You are dismissed." Ozpin said.

The three of us took the elevator down.

"Since Cardin and his team has been removed from Beacon the two of you should be free to go around without backup." Coco said.

"You gonna miss playing babysitter?" I asked.

"Not a chance. You guys ever need anything though let us know, and if you notice anything suspicious with those three let us know." Coco said before splitting from us.

"Cardin's gone, my team got an upgrade from Archer, and if we walk slow, we'll miss Port's class. This day has been awesome so far." I said.

I was stopped when Hailey suddenly wrapped her arms around me and hugged me.

"Thank you. For everything." She said.

"Just another day for The Hero of Beacon." I said.

She released the hug and stepped back a bit.

"Please be serious for a bit. Everything you've done for me means more than you could ever imagine. Especially since you didn't have to do any of this from the start." She said.

"I wasn't just gonna ignore it either." I said.

"I know. It's just who you are. Regardless it means everything to me. I can't even begin to think of a way to pay you back." She said.

"Then maybe we should just call us even?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Did you already forget that you saved my life yesterday? There's no way I'd have been able to repay you for that. So maybe we just call it even?" I asked.

"A-alright." She said.

We started heading to class when the bell went off signaling it was over.

"Oh, darn guess we'll just have to head to lunch instead." I said.

We changed direction and headed for the Cafeteria instead. Not long after we'd arrived teams RWBY and JNPR joined us.

"So, how'd it go?" Jaune asked.

"It's official, Hailey is on my team now." I said.

"That's great!" Ruby exclaimed.

"Then who got moved to her old team?" Blake asked.

"Archer." I said.

"He switched your leader over. That doesn't make sense." Weiss said.

"Well Ozpin didn't take it very well that they kicked her out. So, he made Archer the leader of their team." I said.

"Then who's your team's new leader?" Ruby asked.

"You're looking at him. Apparently, he was impressed with the way I was handling this whole situation and thought I'd make a good replacement." I said.

"I still think you were being kinda reckless with your decisions." Yang said.

"Well you look at the other options on that team there wasn't really a better choice. Proton is a dark brooding loner, and Ariana seems like she could only lead someone to the bedroom." Nora said.

"If Jaune and Ruby can be classified as leaders that I don't see why he can't. They all seem to have similar mindsets." Weiss said.

"I can never tell if your complimenting us or insulting us." I said.

After lunch we made our way to our remaining classes. In Goodwitch's class Jaune and I had to team up against Blake and some silver haired guy from Mistral that's here for the Vytal Festival. I don't remember what Goodwitch said his name was though. Jaune and I ended up losing, but I wasn't that surprised. While Jaune's combat has seemed to improve lately he still seems to be lacking a bit. My fighting the last couple days really showed me how much I rely on my gloves and semblance. I need to start training more without them. Especially when it comes to Professor Greene's class. Glowing metal and stealth are a terrible combination.

Once classed were over for the day Hailey and I headed back to our dorm finding Archer packing his things.

"I can certainly say I didn't expect to be the one switched out. The idea of Proton being right about something stings more than I expected it to. Regardless at least I'll be keeping my status as leader." Archer said.

"Oh, trust me I'm gonna savor this." Proton said relaxing on his bed.

"I'm a little surprised at the situation myself. Who knows, maybe this will be a better arrangement for everyone involved." I said.

"Yeah, he can go pull his Irondick routine on those assholes instead of me." Proton said.

"Alright, that's enough. Things weren't that bad with him as leader, were they?" I asked.

"You don't have to feign that you liked me just cause I'm leaving." Archer said.

"Who said I'm faking? I thought some of your tactics had potential. They were just used on the wrong people. With the right audience I think they could do great. In fact, I have a little going away present for you." I said walking over to my bed and reaching for something under it.

"The plausibility of that seems very unlikely." Archer said.

I walked over and held out my hand revealing his whistle that he'd used on us day one. "Use it in good health."

"Why do you have this?" Archer asked.

"Ariana stole it a couple days after you used it and told me to hide it just in case. She figured you'd never expect me to have it." I said.

Archer sighed before taking the whistle. "As much as I hate to admit this. She wasn't wrong."

"I got something for ya too." Proton said standing up. He stood at attention and saluted Archer.

"What's the catch?" Archer said.

Proton cleared his throat before continuing. "Na-na-na-na, na-na-na-na, hey, hey, hey, goodbye"

"I should have expected that." Archer said.

"At least I gave you the salute. That's meeting someone, halfway right?" Proton asked.

"I mean it is the closest thing to respect you've gotten from him." I said.

"Sad, but true." Archer said.

"That being said. Proton you can help him carry his stuff to his new room." I said earning a small smile from Archer.

"Oh, bull… ah screw it. It was worth it." Proton said grabbing a box.

"Good luck Cian." Archer said. grabbing his other box and the two headed out the door.

Hailey and I spent the about the next hour setting Hailey stuff up in the room.

Once Ariana and Proton came back, I stood in the center of the room.

"Alright listen up. I wanna lay out some ground rules." I said.

"Fuck off!" Proton yelled causing himself, Ariana and me to laugh.

"I was just gonna say don't do anything stupid." I said.

"To which I restate. Fuck off." Proton said.

"That's fair." I said.

"Dude you have no idea how happy I am to be rid of him." Proton said.

"Was he really that bad?" Hailey asked.

"The first day he tried that ground rules bullshit and was trying to tell us when we had to be in the room and everything. He would have tried more rules if we hadn't told him to fuck off." Proton said.

"You told him off the first night Cian?" Hailey asked seemingly surprised I would do that.

"Well…" I started.

"He sure did. Should have seen the kid go off on him." Ariana said.

I sighed. "Actually, that's about all I got to say before they cut me off and continued into him. Also why do you call me kid? Aren't we about the same age?"

"Because I know it gets to you. Now that all the serious stuff is done, I can go back to having fun with people." Ariana said.

"I was wondering how long that would last. Just lay off our 'glorious leader,' pretty sure the Kitsune has laid claim. Wouldn't wanna make her jealous." Proton said.

Hailey started turning red.

"Now where would the fun be in that? Besides I'm pretty sure he's immune to it by now anyway." Ariana said.

"I'm right here." I said.

"Don't remind her or she'll try proving her point." Proton said.

"While it would be entertaining. I've got a much better idea in mind." Ariana said.

"Didn't I just say don't do anything stupid?" I said.

"I'll be careful. I just wanna test a theory I've been working on." Ariana said.

"Why does that scare me?" I asked.

"Sugar I'm pretty sure anything I do scares you. If it makes you feel better, it doesn't involve you." Ariana said.

"Somehow that doesn't make me feel better." I said.

"You'll be better off just letting it happen. It will regardless if you do anything." Proton said.

"Sadly, you're probably right." I said.

Soon after the four of us passed out. The next morning, I insisted Ariana didn't have to wait for us since I wanted to test if Coco was right. Hailey and I headed for the Cafeteria on our own. Along the way I felt something trip me up and I fell forward.

"There was nothing fucking there. What the fuck did I trip on now?" I asked.

"Did you have a nice trip?" A familiar voice asked.

I looked up and saw a girl with green hair and darker skin standing in front of me holding her hand out.

"Emerald?" I asked.

"Been a while eh Cian?" Emerald said.

I accepted her hand and she helped me up.

"About eight years." I said shocked. "What happened to you? Aelita was so upset when you disappeared. We thought you'd died."

"It's… a long story…" Emerald said before finally noticing Hailey. "Aren't you the girl all the rumors are going around about?"

"Unfortunately…" Hailey said.

"Well don't let them get to you. From what I've heard if there is any truth to them, I'm sure he deserved whatever he got." Emerald said.

"Thanks…" Hailey said.

"I suppose I should explain. Hailey this is Emerald Sustrai. She was from the same village as me. She was one of my sister's friends. In other words, they had fun ganging up on me and torturing me." I said.

"Oh, come on. It wasn't that bad." Emerald said.

"Not on your end." I said.

"Duh," Emerald said.

"N-nice to meet you." Hailey said.

"Likewise. By the way, whatever he says about me take with a grain of salt. Pretty sure he'll probably exaggerate most of it." Emerald said.

"Doubt it." I said.

"Aww poor Cy." Emerald said putting her arm around me. "You know you missed me."

"Your talking to the wrong Riley on that one. I think you owe me some answers more than anything. I don't think you get how upset Aelita was." I said removing her arm.

Emerald sighed. "Alright, I get it. After classes I'll explain." She said.

"You'd better." I said.

Emerald took off leaving me and Hailey.

"Cian? You alright?" Hailey asked.

I took a deep breath. "I'll be fine. Let's just go, I need some coffee before I go off."

Hailey grabbed my hand which caught me off guard.

"I'm not sure what happened between you two, but I'm here for you." Hailey said.

"Thanks." I said with a slight smile. "I'll explain on the way."

We continued to the cafeteria and I explained how Emeralds parents were good friends with mine. That my sister and her got along immediately to my dismay. They were killed in the same attack that claimed my dad. She'd never been found so the village assumed she'd been a victim as well. Aelita was devastated when she'd found out that she'd lost her dad and one of her best friends. So, seeing her not only alive, but in a huntsman academy was quite a shock.

When we reached the cafeteria, Weiss was storming out towards the classroom.

"Weiss, everything alright?" Hailey asked.

Weiss stormed up to me.

"I know it's only been one day, but I hope you're better at keeping your teammates in line than that poor excuse for a leader you previously had." Weiss said holding a finger in my face.

"For fuck sake. What did Ariana do now?" I asked.

"How do you know it was her?" Hailey asked.

"It was her." Weiss and I both said. Her angry and me annoyed.

"She's back to her normal infuriating ways." Weiss said.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." I said.

I walked in and grabbed a coffee before briefly talking to Ariana just to ask what she did.

"All I did was have a little fun with Jaune. My plan didn't work exactly as I hoped, but it did add to my theory." Ariana said.

I sighed. Just back off him for the rest of the day. Please." I said.

"No problem sugar." Ariana said before heading to another table.

I walked out and told Hailey and Weiss to follow me to class. We got there and sat in the front row again. Luckily there weren't many other students here yet.

"Okay, I know I'm gonna regret asking this. Was it Ariana's behavior that bothered you or who she was doing it too?" I asked.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked.

"Because depending how you answer I'll have a different response." I said.

"Does it really matter that much?" Hailey asked.

"I've dealt with Ariana long enough to know what she's up to. So, I ask again. The behavior itself, or who she was doing to?" I asked.

"It shouldn't matter! That kind of behavior is deplorable!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Alright. Calm down. If my guess is correct, she probably thinks there is something going on between you and Jaune. So, she figured if she messes with him and you react then it confirms it." I said.

"You're joking right? Me and him? That's ridiculous." Weiss said trying to hide her slight blush.

"Well sadly for you she got one of the reactions she was looking for so in her mind you either confirmed it or added to it." I said.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Weiss exclaimed.

"Weiss calm down." Hailey said.

"All your yelling is just gonna add to the suspicion. If it makes you feel better, I told her to back off." I said.

"Whatever." Weiss said.

I looked over to Hailey she shrugged. Shortly before classes started, I got a message on my scroll from Emerald.

"We'll meet up in the courtyard. Come alone." She said.

"How did she get your number?" Hailey asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." I said.

I messaged back that I would.

"Are you sure about this?" Hailey asked.

"No, but I want answers." I said.

"Alright…" Hailey said worriedly.

"I'll be fine." I said.

Once classes were over, I went to the courtyard to meet up with Emerald. Luckily Ruby insisted she and Hailey hang out tonight.

"Were you followed?" Emerald asked.

"Not to my knowledge." I said crossing my arms.

"I get it, your pissed. Just let me explain." Emerald said.

"Please do." I said.

"After I lost my parents, I hid myself away. Any time someone came looking for me I'd used my semblance to make it so they couldn't see me. I don't know if you'll remember, but my aunt came by to collect my family's things. She was the first one I'd let find me. She ended up taking me to the city to live with her. It didn't get much better from there, but a lot of that was my fault. I acted up all the time and was a total brat." She said.

"Well some things don't change." I said.

"Eventually I got to the point I'd started stealing. When my aunt found out about that she was not happy. She even kicked me out saying how disappointed my parents would have been. She wasn't wrong, but at that point I didn't care. Eventually I came across someone who helped me actually get back on my feet. Cleaned up my act and started training to become a huntress" She said.

"I don't get why you didn't just come to our family. I mean I would have dreaded it at first, but you should have known we'd have taken you in." I said.

"I was like eleven. I was alone and scared. You can't tell me in that situation you'd have known exactly what to do?" she said.

"You're right, sorry." I said.

"No, I get it. I know I wasn't the only one to lose someone that day, so you have just as much right to be upset as I do." She said.

"So, do you wanna tell Aelita you're still alive or do you want me to?" I asked.

"I'll tell her. It'll just have to wait a bit." She said.

"You'll understand then I won't be able to fully forgive you until then?" I said.

"Somehow I doubt you would have regardless. Since you think we tortured you back then." She said punching me in the shoulder.

"For the record, it's good to know that we didn't lose you too." I said.

"Lita is so gonna bitch me out." She said with a slight laugh.

"Before or after she cries hugging you?" I said.

"During." She said.

"Probably." I said.

"I suppose I should let you get back to your girlfriend. Wouldn't want her getting jealous." She said.

"I don't have a girlfriend." I said confused.

"Aren't you with he faunus girl I saw you with?" She asked.

"No, she's just a good friend and my teammate." I said.

"Don't try fooling me. I can see there's more between the two of you." She said.

"I don't know what your talking about." I said blushing a bit.

"Ohh, I get it. Neither of you have asked each other out yet. Well don't wait too long. Wouldn't want either of you to get taken by someone else." She said before walking away.

"After what she's been though… There's no way I could possibly ask her out." I whispered.

I took a few steps before realizing what I'd said.

'Does this mean I actually do like Hailey?' I thought. 'Still… there's probably a better chance of Weiss asking Jaune out than me asking Hailey. Hey, I know we just got done dealing with an asshole that was treating you like shit, but now that he's gone how about we get together? That doesn't sound like someone with an ulterior motive…'

 **Meanwhile with Ruby**

"You okay Hailey?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah I guess I'm just a little worried about Cian." Hailey said.

"He's just going to meet with an old friend. I'm sure he'll be fine." Ruby said.

"I know… There's just something I don't like about her." Hailey said.

"Can I ask you something?" Ruby asked.

"Sure." Hailey said.

"You like Cian, don't you?" Ruby asked.

"…Kinda." Hailey said.

"I thought so. So, you're not worried about Cian. You're worried she'll take him from you." Ruby said.

Hailey sat silent and embarrassed.

"Don't worry I'm sure that's not gonna happen. I mean he told me he liked Pyrrha, but…" Ruby started before catching herself.

"He likes Pyrrha?" Hailey asked disheartened.

"Well… that's what he told me at least… I wasn't supposed to say anything about Pyrrha, but he did say that he wouldn't wanna push you into anything despite how he feels. So, if he does have feelings for you, he's probably scared to do anything considering what you went though with Cardin." Ruby said.

"He's nothing like Cardin though. He's selfless, kind, a bit clueless at times. He's amazing…" Hailey said.

That's the problem though. His kindness is why he's scared to do anything. He doesn't wanna hurt you." Ruby said.

"So, what do I do?" Hailey asked.

"Just give it some time. I'm sure you two will end up together. Just try and stay positive." Ruby said.

 **Meanwhile… again in formerly Team TRAP's dorm.**

"So, what do you think?" Archer asked.

"I think it's still a bit early to tell." Proton said.

"I think there are a few targets that would be perfect." Ariana said.

"It has barley been a month and we've hardly seen any of them in action." Proton said.

"We'll have to keep watch regardless. Who are you thinking?" Archer asked.

"The Rose girl for sure. The Schnee might be helpful if she drops the attitude." Proton said.

"Of course, little Cian and Hailey. They are absolutely perfect." Ariana said.

"I've got my eye on a rabbit faunus. Lucky, Leah something like that." Proton said.

"Possibly the Arc boy." Ariana said.

"You've gotta be kidding." Proton said.

"I said possibly. I'm gonna keep an eye on him more to be sure." Ariana said.

"Very well. Proton make sure you get me the name of the girl you're watching. I'll submit the names to the boss. Remember to stay on the lookout for any other possible targets." Archer said.

"Got it." Ariana and Proton said.

"One last thing. We need to watch what we're saying around the others. We've been getting careless." Archer said.

"I doubt Cian's caught on to anything." Proton said.

"Regardless. We all need to be more mindful of what we say." Archer said.

"Got it." Ariana and Proton said.

"Dismissed." Archer said.


	7. Chapter 7

**I was going to write a new chapter for a different story, but Keyblade Guardian Ace and I came up with some ideas for this story and it really made me wanna continue onward with this one. So, either thank or blame him.**

 **SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta: Tis a mystery.**

When I returned to my room Ariana and Proton were the only ones there. Proton was working on his grenades again while Ariana was reading some ninja book.

"Welcome back sugar. Hailey isn't with you?" Ariana asked.

"No, she and Ruby were hanging out today." I said pulling out my scroll before laying on my bed.

"So, I'm guessing you were with Pyrrha then?" Ariana asked.

"No. I was talking with an old friend I'd met up with after our meeting with Ozpin." I said.

"You have friends other than RWBY and JNPR?" Proton asked.

"Don't forget about the hottie from the team that sat in on our meeting. He seems to be pretty close with them." Ariana said.

"Team CFVY? I guess I would consider Velvet and Coco friends. I haven't really talked to the other two much." I said.

"Just gonna gloss over the 'hottie' comment? At least you're finally learning." Proton said.

"I don't know if I want the answer. Sometimes ignorance really is bliss." I said.

"Wait, so does that mean you've been faking being dense this whole time?" Proton asked.

"I'm pretty sure it's a combination of both." Ariana said.

"When did this become an attack on me?" I asked.

"Come on sugar, you can pretend all you want. Everyone knows there is something between you and Hailey. They only ones who don't seem to see it…" Ariana started.

"Or are flat out ignoring it." Proton added.

"Are the two of you." Ariana continued.

"You know, with what you pulled this morning I think you're the last person I wanna talk about this stuff with. I know you like to get reactions out of people, but maybe let peoples relationships progress at their own pace and not get involved in them." I said.

"Huh, give the kid some power and he finally grows a backbone. Respect." Proton said.

"Calm down sugar I wasn't meaning nothin' bad by it. I'll just say you don't wanna wait too long. You never know if or when you might lose your chance to say how you feel." Ariana said.

Proton set his equipment down and turned towards us. "As much as I hate to give her credit for anything. She's right. You never know when something might happen that forces things to change. Might as well live with no regrets."

"No offence, but I've hardly talked to you at all since coming here. Most of which has been snide comments towards or about someone. Either that or you're just not around. So, hearing genuine advice from you is kinds weird." I said.

"Understandable. Which is good enough reason to listen when I say this." Proton said. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "Clearly you and Hailey have something. Literally everyone can see it. You should take advantage and enjoy your time while you can. You never know what the future will hold. As I said I hate giving Ariana credit for anything. She is right though. You never know if or when something can come up and take everything away from you."

"You almost sound like you're speaking from experience." I said.

Proton turned his chair and picked his equipment back up. "There may be some truth to that. Good luck getting out of me though."

"I'll… take that into consideration." I said. 'Maybe I should just tell her…'

Soon after Hailey and Ruby entered our room.

"Oh, good you're here." Ruby said digging in her backpack. She pulled out two metal armbands and handed them to me. "I finally finished your gloves."

I put them on, and Ruby started going though all the changes she made to them. Including the retractable blade and the collapsing functions. She said she ran though ideas to make them work with dust but apparently her and Weiss decided that they would be better without. After Ruby took off it wasn't long before my teammates had passed out.

As for me my head kept running through everything Proton, Ariana and Emerald had said. Along with realizing how many people kept noticing how close Hailey and I had gotten.

'Everyone keeps mentioning that we have a connection. Still, even if I do like her that way, with what she's been though I can't imagine her even thinking about a relationship. I'm fairly sure she still has flashbacks to whatever Cardin did to her.' I thought. I put my hands behind my head. "Well that's two crushes out. Relationships are overrated anyway right? For now, I guess I should just focus on school. I'll still help Hailey out, but I should try forgetting about a relationship. At least try anyway.'

I think I ended up getting maybe two hours of sleep that night. All I know is I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep.

'Guess I'm making coffee early today.' I thought

I got up and started a pot of coffee. I put headphones in and started listening to music in the kitchen. I pulled up a comic on my scroll to read to pass some time. Once seven hit I decided to shower and get ready for classes. By the time I was done Hailey was just waking up.

"Morning…" She said stretching her arms out. "Are you already ready for class?"

"Yeah, I figured I'd take off a little early to get some studying in. There's some coffee in the kitchen if you guys want some. If not just dump it out I'll clean it after classes" I said. 'Liar.'

"Mkay…" Hailey said still out of it.

I gathered my things and headed for class.

" **The Hero of Beacon has a little crush on someone? That's adorable." Pyrrha's voice echoed.**

" **You never know if or when you might lose your chance to say how you feel." Ariana's words echoed.**

" **Wouldn't want either of you to get taken by someone else." Emerald's words echoed.**

'Little sleep and all these thoughts running though my head. Classes are gonna suck.' I thought

I wasn't paying attention and ended up running into someone knocking us both to the ground.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." I said.

I looked up and saw a girl in a uniform like Emerald was wearing with long pink and brown hair that matched the color of her eyes. I stood up and offered her a hand. She accepted and got back to her feet.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

She nodded.

"You aren't hurt, are you?" Another girl asked. She had the same outfit with shoulder length black hair that covered one of her amber colored eyes.

"I'm fine. Just a little distracted this morning I guess." I said.

"Well no one seems to be hurt. I guess it's nothing to worry about then." She said.

"I'm Cian by the way. I'm guessing the two of you are here from Mistral for the Vytal Festival?" I asked extending my hand.

"Indeed, I'm Cinder and this is Neo." Cinder said shaking my hand. "Can I assume we aren't the first student's you've met up with from Mistral?"

"Actually, I have an old friend that's also here for the tournament." I said.

"I take it you're the one Emerald was talking about then?" She asked.

"I guess? You must be her teammates?" I asked.

"Indeed." She said.

"Why am I worried about what she told you about me…" I said.

"Nothing bad, right Neo?" She asked.

Neo nodded again and held a thumbs up.

"Not to sound rude, but you're not much of a talker, are you?" I asked.

Neo shook her head.

"You could say that." Cinder added.

"Hey sometimes that could be a good thing." I said.

"I suppose so. I'm afraid we must be going though. Perhaps we'll meet up again another time." Cinder said.

"Oh, right. I guess I should be heading to class. It was nice meeting you two." I said.

"Likewise. Try not to run over anyone else on your way." Cinder said before the two of them took off.

I started heading to class again. 'She seemed like another Ariana. Just with better self-control.'

When I got to class Emerald noticed me right away.

"Cian!" Emerald called out.

'I have other options, right?' I thought trying to look for someone else I knew.

"Either you come over here or we'll come to you." She said.

'Guess not.' I thought heading over to her.

"Good choice." She said. "Oh, this is my teammate Mercury." She gestured to a boy with silver hair.

"Please tell me you're the normal one of the team." I said.

"I'm guessing you met the other two?" Mercury asked.

"I may have bumped into them." I said.

"When was this?" Emerald asked.

"A few minutes ago. I'm still trying to figure out if Cinder was trying to seduce me." I said.

"Nah that's just how she talks." Mercury said.

"Good. I've got enough women trouble in my life." I said.

"I do not envy you." Mercury said.

"Speaking of women trouble." Emerald said pointing to the doorway.

I looked to seem Hailey and Pyrrha walking into the classroom. Hailey seemed to glance over here before the two of them sat in another area.

"Guessing that's one of them?" Mercury asked.

"Two of them actually." I said.

"Cian you stud." Emerald said giving me a light punch.

"Now all three are here." I said.

"Really? Who's the other one?" Emerald asked.

"She's got green hair and is a pain in the ass." I said.

"Oh, Cian I'm flattered…" Emerald started.

"No, no, no. Not in that way. Never in that way." I said.

Soon after Jaune, Nora and Ruby entered the classroom. Jaune and Nora ended up sitting by Hailey and Pyrrha with Ruby sitting next to me.

"Hey Cian. Who are your friends?" Ruby asked.

"That's Mercury and this is my annoying acquaintance Emerald." I said gesturing to the two.

"Rude." Emerald said.

"I'm guessing this is your old friend you met up with yesterday?" Ruby asked.

"Hailey told you I'm guessing?" I asked.

"Yeah. I'm surprised she's not sitting with you." Ruby said.

"I'm guessing she maybe didn't see me." I said.

"She did seem out of it at breakfast. Maybe she's still having trouble waking up." Ruby said.

"Could be." I said.

"Oh, if you're not busy later would you wanna meet up to work on our homework later? Normally I'd ask Weiss, but she's been helping Jaune a lot lately." Ruby said.

"I should be free." I said.

As Ruby was about to respond Dr. Oobleck came in to start class. Classes proceeded as normal until we got to Professor Goodwitch's class.

"Our first match today will be Cian Riley and Proton Caribe versus Nora Valkyrie and Jaune Arc." Goodwitch said.

'Dang it' I thought. Proton and I headed to the locker room to get changed for our fight. I got my armor and swords ready and opted to try without my gloves and boots.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Proton asked blocking my path. He was wearing his normal attire with a custom gas mask on.

"I wanted to try fighting without my gloves and boots. It's only a practice fight, anyway right?" I asked.

"Yeah that's great. Go put them on." He said.

"Okay?" I questioned. I went back to my locker and equipped my boots and gloves.

"Good." Proton said as we walked out.

"Are the two teams ready?" Goodwitch asked.

"Absolutely!" Nora yelled.

"Ready." I said.

"Then you may begin." Goodwitch said.

"Timeout." Proton said.

"But, we haven't even started yet?" I said confused.

"I almost forgot." Proton said walking over to me.

"Mr. Caribe. Next time make sure you are fully prepared beforehand." Goodwitch said.

"Keep your skirt on. This will only take a second." Proton said digging into his pocket. He pulled out a gas mask and handed it to me. "You're gonna want that."

I looked at him confused and put the mask on.

"Great." He said before walking behind me. "Alright now pose like a giant rock is coming towards you and your gonna punch it."

"What?" I asked.

"Just do it." He said.

I made a pose like Proton said. He adjusted my arm a bit. He looked towards our opponents and made a small adjustment to my arm again.

"Great. Don't move." Proton said walking away.

"You can't be serious." I said.

"I know what I'm doing. Trust me." He said.

"If you say so." I said.

"Alright. Time in." He said taking a grenade from his side and tossing it between Jaune and Nora.

Nora managed to react in time and backed away from the explosive. Jaune got caught and was sent flying forward. His head ended up clashing with the fist Proton had adjusted and knocked him to the ground.

"Finish him quick so we can take out the real threat." Proton said rushing forward.

I looked down and channeled power into my right glove. 'Sorry Jaune.' I jumped and sent the fist down into Jaune sending me forward and knocking Jaune's Aura into the red.

Proton threw another grenade on the ground creating a smokescreen. I drew my swords and prepared for anything. Slowly the smoke started changing from white to a dark purple. Making it even harder to see. Nora let out a scream followed shortly by a number of explosions. I ended up getting hit by one of them and sent flying out of the smoke. Once the explosions stopped the purple smoke dissipated as well. Nora was laying on the ground covered in soot.

"Proton and Cian are the victors…" Goodwitch said with a slightly annoyed tone. Jaune had gotten back up shortly before the smoke had cleared and we went over to help Nora up.

We started helping her up when she started freaking out again. She slowly calmed down once she finally realized it was us. We helped her back to the locker room and sat her down on the bench.

"What happened back there?" Jaune asked.

"My semblance." Proton said. walking up to us without his mask on. "I can create a toxin that makes you see your worst fear. I learned a way to combine it with a smoke bomb to create a larger area of effect. Blondie was out of the smoke's range when it happened, so he wasn't affected. Cian and I had the masks preventing us from being affected as well."

"So, what did she end up seeing?" Jaune asked.

Nora shot up and grabbed Proton by his collar. "Don't. You. Dare."

"I have no clue what she saw. Whatever it was she's the only one who could see it and it disappeared with the smoke." Proton said.

Nora gave him a death glare before letting him go. She put her weapon away and stormed out of the locker room.

"Something tells me she doesn't like me right now." Proton said.

"I'd say that's a good chance." I said.

The three of us finished putting our gear away and joined the rest of the class sitting next to Blake and Weiss. When we returned Hailey and Ariana were getting ready to face off against Tara and Mars.

"I'm guessing Goodwitch and Ozpin planned for our teams to get in a little team practicing after our little meeting." I said.

"I could see that." Blake said.

"It's not a bad idea. Especially since it seems none of you have much cohesion." Weiss said.

"I'm not fully sure what you said, but I'm pretty sure it was an insult." I said.

"She said your teamwork sucks." Blake said.

"I wanna disagree. Considering I didn't do much in our fight though. I really can't." I said.

Ariana seemed to be giving Hailey a pep-talk before starting their fight. Hailey took a deep breath before taking her fighting stance. Tara had a pair of hook swords. While Mars had a bandolier of knives with two larger knives on her sides and one on each shoulder.

"You know, if she wasn't such a bitch Mars would seem pretty hot right now." Proton said.

"You're kidding right?" Blake asked.

"She carries about as more knives than I do grenades. Maybe I should add a bandolier too. Regardless, if it wasn't for the fact she's racist and seems like a borderline yandere she'd be a lot hotter. Hailey's probably lucky Mars hasn't tried killing her yet. Then again if it would have been Sky abusing her, she probably would be." Proton said.

"For her sake never bring this up again." I said.

"Of course not. If she gets killed, I'll never get to see that semblance I've heard so much about myself. See how much of the rumors are true." Proton said.

'For her sake, I'm hoping it doesn't come to that.' I thought.

Mars grabbed the two knives on her sides and took her stance.

"Are the two teams ready?" Goodwitch asked.

Hailey and Ariana exchanged a look with Ariana giving a thumbs up. Mars and Tara both nodded.

"Then you may begin." Goodwitch said.

Mars immediately charged at Hailey with Tara going after Ariana. Ariana started shooting at both opponents while Hailey charged her tonfas.

Tara started slashing at Ariana causing her to reel back. Ariana combined her pistols together forming their axe mode and started knocking Tara's strikes away. Tara was able to lock both her blades around Ariana's axe. Ariana stepped back making the blades collide with her own. She yanked her axe back pulling Tara with them and sending her to the ground. Ariana then stomped on Tara's hands until she released her weapons. She then separated her axe back to its pistol modes and fired at Tara surrounding her with black electricity.

Hailey had managed to hold off Mars' strikes knocking a couple of her knives away in the process. However as soon as she knocked one away Mars would replace it with another. Despite that Hailey's aura was still lower. Mars managed to get a kick in causing Hailey to stagger back.

Ariana fired a shot that formed a chunk of ice in front of Mars causing her to trip. Hailey quickly took advantage and jabbed her tonfas into Mars's hands. Making her release her knives and taking the full force of the tonfa's charged electricity. Hailey let up and took a couple steps back. Mars' aura was still in the yellow, so she slowly got back up to one knee to try to keep fighting. Hailey ran forward and sent a knee straight to Mars' face knocking her on her back nearly depleting her aura.

"That's enough. Hailey and Ariana are the winners." Goodwitch said.

Ariana went over and put her arm around Hailey congratulating her.

"Not bad." Proton said.

"Seemed a little brutal for Hailey though." I said.

"After what that Mars bitch put her through. I'd say she should have done a little more. Besides, I'm fairly sure that was Ariana's idea." Proton said.

"I'll believe it." Blake said.

After Hailey and Ariana came back, we watched Archer and Hydra team up in a losing effort to Pyrrha and Ren. Hydra was taken out quickly with Archer resining shortly after. Once classes were over Hailey and I joined teams RWBY and JNPR for dinner.

"I still say they cheated." Nora said.

"I keep telling you I had no idea what Proton was planning. I was just as confused as you guys." I said.

"Hailey did pretty good out there today. I bet Mars was shocked when the tides were turned on her. She needed to chill out anyway." Yang said.

"Why… Just why." I said.

"Jokes aside. She did seem a to fare better than when we sparred the other day." Ren said.

"Well to be fair she did used to be my teammate. So, I had a pretty good idea of how she or Tara would have fought me. Ariana pretty much told me to hold off whichever one came at me while she took out the other one. Then once I got the opening, I took it." Hailey said.

"And the cherry on top. She clocked Mars right in the face with her knee. That was awesome." Nora said.

"I couldn't agree more." Ariana said joining our table. "I'll admit it was unexpected to see coming from her, but oh so satisfying with the way they've been treating her."

"W-well the fight was about over anyway. I just figured I'd end it." Hailey said.

"Actually, I just thought of something. You guys know my semblance, and Proton showed his off today. I don't think I've ever seen Ariana or Archers though." I said.

"Sugar, I don't even know if Archer even has a semblance. I on the other hand. Well let's just say mine's not very helpful in battle." Ariana said.

"Why does that worry me?" I asked.

"Calm down Sugar, I wouldn't use it on you." Ariana said.

"So, if I'm hearing you right you could do it right now if you had a volunteer?" Nora asked.

"Of course. Although I wouldn't wanna put you though two demonstrations in one day. That'd just be cruel." Ariana said.

"Oh, come on it can't be worse than nightmare boy." Nora said.

Ariana gave a small laugh. "Alright, but maybe we should move this back to your dorm first. Wouldn't wanna give people the wrong idea."

Ariana and Nora got up and started heading back to the dorms.

"I have a really bad feeling about this." I said getting up from the table.

I was soon followed by everyone else to team JNPR's dorm. Once everyone was there Ariana smiled.

"You're sure you wanna do this? Once I start there's no going back." Ariana said.

"Bring it on." Nora said.

"If you say so." Ariana started. She stood face to face with Nora. "Close your eyes."

Nora did as she was told and Ariana closed in and kissed her. A shine of pink could be seen going from Ariana to Nora. When they separated Nora's eyes opened and were fully pink.

"Alright, honey. Let's start with something simple. What's a song you enjoy you but are embarrassed to admit?" Ariana asked.

"Space Unicorn by Parry Gripp." Nora said without even hesitating.

"Huh, I'm not sure what I was expecting but that wasn't it." Ariana said.

"So, you're basically able to get an information you want from people?" I asked.

"Oh, much more that that Sugar. Let's call it a lustful hypnosis. I can make her do anything I choose right now." Ariana said.

"And amazingly she hasn't used this on more of us by now." Weiss said annoyed.

"Well I can't imagine too many of you would be willing to kiss me neither snow cone." Ariana said.

"I'm almost scared to ask what you mean by that." Pyrrha said.

"Exactly what I said sweetheart. Only works with lip to lip." Ariana asked.

"How do you even discover something like that?" Yang asked.

Ariana walked toward the window. "It's… not a happy story I'm afraid."

The tone of the room changed to a more somber one.

Ariana turned back around. "Anyway, times a ticking. Back to our hypnotized girl here. Nora dear please answer any questions your friends ask."

"As you wish mistress." Nora said.

"Not my idea, guess it just comes with the hypnosis." Ariana said.

"Who's your least favorite person here?" Yang asked.

"Weiss." Nora said.

"Probably could have guessed that." Ruby said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked.

"What do you actually think of Weiss?" Jaune asked.

"Well I'd like her a lot more if she'd drop the spoiled princess thing. Still don't understand what Jaune sees in her. I trust her to have my back if I need it. Even if she'd complain about it." Nora said.

"So, then you still see her as a friend?" I asked.

"Of course." Nora said.

"Then why did you say you liked me the least?" Weiss asked.

"Cause that's what I was asked. Out of my friends you're the one I like the least. That doesn't mean I don't like you though. If it makes you feel better, I have more respect for you than a lot of the other students." Nora said.

"See she still likes you." Ruby said.

'She just likes the rest of us better." Yang said.

"Whatever." Weiss said.

"You're just all gonna ignore what she mentioned about her and Jaune?" Ariana asked.

"Oh, we all knew he liked her. He tried hitting on her day two." Yang said.

"Literally right in front of Pyrrha and I. It was painful to watch." I said.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?" Jaune asked.

"It was." Weiss, Pyrrha and I said.

"Well since we're talking about crushes. Maybe we should see who Nora's is." Ariana said.

"What did I tell you yesterday?" I said.

"I didn't ask her. I merely brought it up as a suggestion." Ariana said.

"Nora, do you have a crush on anyone in this room." Ren said shocking everyone in the room.

"Nope." Nora said.

Everyone seemed to be more shocked at her response.

"Wow that was bold. We're you hoping she'd say it was you?" Ariana asked.

"Not at all. Just wanted to prove that there's nothing between Nora and I. That we are just friends." Ren said.

"Then how do you actually feel about Ren?" Jaune asked.

"Dude?" I asked.

"He's like an older brother to me. Been that way since we were kids." Nora said.

"Okay that's enough. Ariana stop this." I said.

"Sorry sugar, wish I could turn it off. Trust me…" Ariana said.

"So then how do we stop it?" I asked.

"It's on a timer I can't control. Could be a few more minutes could be a full twenty-four hours." Ariana said.

"You're kidding me." I said.

"Don't get mad at me sugar. She agreed to it. I asked her multiple times if she was sure wanted to do it." Ariana said.

"Without telling her what it was." I said.

"Wrong. We had a head start on the rest of you so I explained it to her on the way here. Isn't that right Nora?" Ariana asked.

"Yep." Nora said.

"After experiencing it, is there anything I didn't tell you about how my semblance works?" Ariana asked.

"Nope." Nora asked.

"What made you still agree to it?" Blake asked.

"Well I figured you'd either make me do something crazy or reveal something embarrassing. Let's be honest I'd probably do any request you guys would have asked anyway. Not only that, but it's not like I have a lot to hide anyway." Nora said.

"She's got a point." Ren asked.

"Did you think Ren would ask if you had a crush?" Jaune asked.

"No, but it's not like it's been a secret anyway. I kept telling you guys we weren't together together." Nora said.

"Whatever. I'm gonna go start on my homework." I said walking out of the room. 'So much for our talk about not interfering with other people's relationships.'

I started walking towards the library.

"Hey." Weiss called out.

I stopped and waited for her to catch up.

"I thought you were going to deal with her." Weiss said.

"I'm trying. You're not the only one getting tired of this." I said.

Weiss sighed and started walking towards the entrance. "Come with me."

I followed her outside and we ended up in an open area with a gazebo set up. We sat at one of the tables.

"What did you talk to her about?" Weiss asked.

"I told her to back off you and Jaune and to let people's relationships progress at their own pace and not get involved in them. Clearly, she took it as a suggestion rather than a request." I said.

"So, you actually have been trying?" she asked.

"Like I said, you're not the only one it's annoying." I said.

"I'm guessing she's involving herself with you and Hailey?" she asked.

"Something like that. There's a lot more to that whole situation that's bothering me, but that's not important." I said.

"Agreed. That being said, considering you have been trying and her nature just seems to be an infuriating one. I will apologize for the way I acted yesterday." She said.

"Don't worry about it. I'm more surprised you were the one who followed me. Figured if anyone it would be Ruby." I said.

"She was going to, but I wanted to discuss this issue since you seemed just as thrilled as I was. When she was about to go after you, I held her back and walked out for the same reason you gave." She said.

"Well unless there's anything else you wanna discuss, I'm gonna head to the library." I said starting to head back.

"Actually, there is." She said. I turned around and sat back down. "I figured I'd inform you that my opinion of you has significantly changed since our first meeting. Despite a few questionable decisions, you have proven that you are more competent than I originally thought."

"Glad I was able to make a better impression, but I'm guessing that still doesn't make us friends?" I asked.

"I'm not sure I'd use the word 'friend' at least not yet. However, I have a higher respect for you that many of the other people here." She said.

"Fair enough. Considering you thought I was a complete idiot when we first met, I'll accept it." I said.

"I will say though. When you left, I expected Hailey to come after you before I did." She said.

"Why's that?" I asked curious what her response would be.

She gave a small sigh. "This conversation never happened... I know you're in the same boat I am with Jaune. You like her but you've got something holding you back from pursuing it."

"Yeah… you could say that." I said stunned at her response.

"I'm sure I don't have to explain what my issue is. Which brings me to my question. The two of you seemed near inseparable the past few weeks. So other than the fact I had something to discuss with you. Why is she not the one sitting here?" she asked.

"Honestly I'm not sure. Part of me expected her to be here too. Since this morning though it seems like she was trying to avoid me." I said.

"It could be she's worried about the girl you were sitting with in class." She said.

"Trust me, nothing would happen between me and Emerald." I said.

"Does Hailey know that?" she asked.

"She should. She saw me get into an argument with her yesterday." I said.

"Maybe she thinks you two made up and are on better terms since you were sitting together." I said.

"She told me either I sit with her or she'd move over to me. I wasn't given a choice." I said.

"Did you tell Ruby that? I noticed she sat with you." She asked.

"Not yet. I'm guessing that's the real reason she suggested we do our homework together today was to discuss that." I said.

"That's most likely the reason." She said.

"Not to sound rude, but considering by your own admission we're not technically friends. Why are you discussing this with me?" I asked.

"Considering your situation is similar to my own I'm guessing like me you don't want someone to just tell you to go for it over and over. You want someone to talk it out instead. Maybe give you another perspective." She said.

"I'll admit it's a nice change. Does this mean you're gonna go into your situation at some point?" I asked.

"As much as I was hoping to avoid it. I suppose it would only be fair." She said.

"I'm not going to make you if you don't want to." I said.

"I'm aware." She said.

"Then what's your reason? Aside from half of what you say still seems like an insult, it seems like the two of get along pretty well." I said.

"Think about it. I'm a Schnee. Someone like him being added to the family would seem like a blemish and a disgrace." She said.

"Jaune Schnee. Yeah that's a hard one to picture. Still no offense it still sounds like a better idea than your father." I said.

"I don't disagree. The problem is if I wanna take over the company I'm positive my father would prevent that from being a possibility if I were to be with Jaune. He'd probably pass the position to my brother." She said.

"Could always hire someone to kidnap your brother. Then he'd only have one choice." I said.

"You're not wrong." She said.

"You know I was joking right?" I asked.

"Of course. It was just nice to hear an something other than, 'it shouldn't matter if you really care about him.' I know it shouldn't but I have to think about my company and my family's future also." She said.

"I'm guessing Jaune or Ruby are the ones who said that?" I asked.

"Jaune of course. It hurt telling him how I felt. I know it hurt him too but I think he's taking it better than I am. Ruby wouldn't stop bugging me about it." She said.

"Ruby really just wants her friends to be happy doesn't she." I said.

"The main annoying trait you both share. The difference is you at least seem to weigh your options before acting. Which I'm guessing is part of your issue with Hailey?" She asked.

"… Of course I like her. It's as obvious to me as everyone else. I'm worried asking her out is a bad idea considering what Cardin did to her. Add in that I had a crush on Pyrrha first and struck out before I even had a chance. It's just made me think maybe I should hold off on even trying a relationship." I said.

"Not surprising to hear you had a crush on Pyrrha. It was pretty obvious, at least until Hailey came along. It's clear she's pretty much in love with you. Perhaps a form of Stockholm syndrome." She said.

"Since when can you tell jokes?" I asked.

"According to everyone else my jokes aren't funny." She said.

"That one wasn't bad." I said.

"I get it through. Things like that can create a lot of mental trauma for a person. Although she seems to be handling the situation rather well though. Perhaps things could work."

"You're… you may have a point." I said.

"I have an idea…" she said.

"You don't sound very confident about it." I said.

She took a deep breath before continuing. "I'll cut you a deal. We both seem to be in a tight spot so how about this. Saturday you take Hailey out and I take Jaune out and we both officially ask them out." She said.

"And what's stopping either of us from chickening out?" I asked.

"If we don't then we have to be the others butter (or maid) for a week." She said.

"That's it?" I asked.

"I have a reputation to uphold. I can't be seen being controlled by someone like you." She said.

"Insulting and sounds more like an incentive for you." She said.

"And my first order would be to wear Jaune's Pumpkin Pete's pajamas to class." She said.

"So our motivation to finally ask the person we each like is by threatening each other?" I asked.

"Do you have another idea?" She asked.

"No, but this never works out on TV. Somehow one person always ends up finding out and then they get pissed thinking they were only asked out because the person was told to. It's a horrible cliché." I said.

"Jaune and I already like each other just like you and Hailey. If we both ask the other out the deal won't matter cause no one loses the bet. It's just a motivation tactic. Like knowing if you do a chore you get a cookie or something." She said.

I sat in silence for a moment and thought about her plan.

"You're sure this will work?" I asked.

"Depends how threatened by the consequences you are." She said.

"Not that. I mean on the off chance they find out about our deal." I said.

"They won't, but if you're that worried about it, I'll think of a backup plan." She said.

"… Alright." I said.

She held her hand out and I accepted her deal.

"Just remembered, this conversation never happened." She said.

"I know." I said.

"We'll meet up here Sunday morning." She said.

"Got it." I said.

I decided to walk around a bit before going back inside. I got a message from Hailey.

"Hey, are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I decided to get some fresh air after what happened with Ariana. Sorry if I worried you." I replied.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"Just outside the dorms. I'll be back inside in a bit." I replied heading back to the entrance.

"Hang on." She said.

"Okay?" I replied.

A couple minutes later she came outside and met up with me.

"Hey, you sure you're okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine now. Just needed to take a breather. Ariana really knows how to test my patience." I said.

"I know, but like Nora said. She knew about the semblance so she knew what she was getting into." She said.

"It's not that…" I said sitting beside the building. "I'm getting annoyed with her butting into people's relationships."

"I thought she was only messing with Weiss and Jaune?" She asked sitting next to me.

'I can't tell her yet…' I thought "Well… before you came back last night, she was digging into me again. I ended up admitting I had a crush on Pyrrha…" I said.

"Oh…" I said.

"She wouldn't let it go so I told her I got shot down. Which wasn't entirely a lie…" I said.

"What do you… sorry I forget I asked." She said.

"It's fine. I did have a crush on her, but I knew she didn't like me the same way. I'm not as oblivious as everyone thinks. Just makes life easier sometimes to pretend I don't know what's going on." I said.

"Sorry if it sounds like I'm prying, but how do you know she didn't like you the same way?" She asked.

"I could tell by the way she acted around me. Plus, it was around the time she was still into Jaune so I'm almost positive I wasn't even in consideration at the time." I said.

"You never know… She could have just been hiding her feelings." She said.

"No, I know." I said.

"How?" She asked.

"Well… last weekend when we went shopping with her and Ruby's teams, she asked me if I was doing all that stuff to impress you… I told her I wasn't but I did have someone I was kinda trying to impress but I didn't say who. She offered to help but I told her I'd rather not get my hopes up. That I was certain she only saw me as a friend anyway. I said I was grateful for her being there for me since I came here. She said that's what friends are for." I said.

"That doesn't mean she doesn't like you back..." She said.

"It wasn't just that. I heard her tell Jaune the same thing before. When she said it to him it was in a completely different tone. More of an I'll always be there for you tone. With me it was just a happy no problem." I said.

There was a silence between the two of us for a moment.

"I'm guessing Ariana and I are the only ones who know about this?" She asked.

"I told Ruby I had a crush on Pyrrha, but that's all. No one knows about the rejection part other than you and Ariana." I said.

"You know you didn't have to tell me any of that right..." She asked.

"You'd have been worried about me if I hadn't. Besides I trust you." I said.

"Do you still have feelings for her?" She asked.

"I'd be lying if I said I was completely over her, but for the most part I am. Everything that's happened over the weekend has been a good distraction." I said.

"So… it's my fault…" She said.

"N-no, I'm sorry if I made it sound like that. I meant with something else to focus on I was able to move on from those feelings easier. I'm not blaming you in any way. It wouldn't have worked out with her and I regardless. It's not your fault I promise." I said.

"Alright. Either way I'm sorry." She said.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." I said.

"If you say so…" She said.

"So, what happened after I left?" I asked.

"Well, Weiss ended up leaving not long after you did. After a bit Nora returned to normal and Ruby, Pyrrha and I were some of the first to leave. We went back to Ruby's dorm to talk about what happened… we were worried about you and Weiss. You both seemed to be annoyed with Ariana." She said.

"Yeah, Weiss caught up with me and got a little upset with me about the situation. I tried telling her that I was trying to work on it. It went about as well as you'd expect it to." I said.

"By the way sorry I didn't sit with you and Ruby in class… I didn't see you right away. By the time Pyrrha noticed you class was about to start." She said.

"I figured. Ruby said you were still a bit out of it at breakfast…" I said.

"So, I'm guessing you worked things out with Emerald…?" She asked.

'Looks like Weiss was right about her being worried about Emerald.' I thought. "I guess you could say we're on better terms. As far as friends go, I still see Weiss as a better friend than her."

"So then why were you sitting with her?" She asked.

"Cause when I walked in the classroom, she yelled out either I sit with her or she'd move over to me. So, I gave in and just went to her. Where she continued to prove she's just as much a pain to deal with as she used to be. At least her teammate seems kinda cool." I said.

"Wouldn't it have been more inconvenient for her to move that you to give in?" She asked.

"At first glance yes. However, as payback she'd have tried embarrassing me to everyone until class started. In the long run it was the lesser of two evils." I said.

"You make it sound like she tortured you when you were younger." She said.

"Well to a little boy who was forced to wear a dress when she was around. It was torture." I said.

She tried stopping herself from laughing. "She made you wear a dress?"

"Her and my sister versus just me. I didn't have much of a choice." I said.

"No one stopped them?" she asked.

"My dad would, but then they just started doing it when he was off on a mission." I said.

"Oh, sorry to bring him up…" She said.

"Don't worry about it. If it wasn't for him, I probably wouldn't be here right now. Anyway, we should probably head back in. I'm getting tired and am not looking forward to whatever argument I end up having with Ariana." I said.

The two of us stood up and started heading back in.

"Hey Cian…" She said.

I stopped and turned back to her.

"I don't remember if I've said this before, but you know if somethings bothering you, you can always talk to me." She said.

I smiled "I know, and believe me I appreciate it."

We continued back to our dorm. When we came back Ariana was sitting on her bed and Proton seemed to still be out.

"So, I suppose I'll be getting yelled at again?" Ariana asked.

"Look I'm not mad anymore. I just wish you'd tone it down on getting involved in other people's relationships. I don't know what your reason behind it is. I don't know if it's still just getting a reaction out of people or whatever. Right now, I'm too tired to care. All I'm asking is you tone it down a bit." I said.

"You realize there's a chance someone would have brought it up without me mentioning it. The way Ninja Boy talked he probably would have asked regardless." Ariana said.

"Yeah, I know. Still I already have Weiss getting on me about this stuff I don't need anyone else." I said.

"Sugar, there are more important things you need to be worried about. The sooner you realize that, the better." Ariana said.

Hailey put a hand on my shoulder and shook her head. I let it go and decided to just try to get some sleep.

The next couple days went by fairly normal. Emerald and Mercury started hanging out with the rest of us. Emerald ended up talking about some of the stuff She and my sister used to do. Ruby countered with some of the stuff she used to do to Yang. Some of which apparently Yang didn't know about. Mercury took to sparing with Pyrrha and Jaune. We saw Neo and Cinder once in a while. I'm still not sure how to react to Cinder. She seems nice but her tone still makes me think there's something odd about her.

Today is the day I'm supposed to ask Hailey out. Shortly after we woke up, I asked her if she wanted to head into town with me to pick some stuff up. She agreed and we headed to the airships.

"Looks like we won't be going alone." Hailey said.

I looked ahead and saw two people had gotten there first.

"Seriously. It couldn't have been anyone else…" I whispered.

Ruby and Emerald turned around and noticed us.

"Aww you two cuties heading out for a date?" Emerald asked.

"We're just going shopping." I said.

"What about you two?" Hailey asked.

"I offered to show Emerald around the city." Ruby said.

"If you two are only doing some shopping, you could come with us. The more the merrier right?" Emerald asked with an evil smile.

"It sounds fun, but I had plans with Weiss later. So, we can't be out very long." Hailey said as the four of us boarded the airship.

"Really? Weiss said she was gonna be helping Jaune with his homework later." Ruby said confused.

"I think it was today. I guess I'll ask her while we're out." Hailey said.

"Well if not feel free to join us." Ruby said.

"I'll take it into consideration. I might get try getting some practice in with Mercury or Neo later." I said.

"Anything to avoid me, Right Cy?" Emerald said sticking her tongue out.

"Pretty much." I said.

"Aww did someone forget his coffee this morning?" Emerald asked.

"No, you're just a pain." I said.

"Ruby have I said anything mean to Cy today?" Emerald asked.

"You've seemed perfectly kind to me." Ruby said.

"It's you and my sister all over again." I said.

"Oh, come on Cy. She's not that bad." Ruby said.

"Oh, gods it's worse than I imagined." I said.

Emerald and Ruby started laughing. A few minutes later our ship landed and we went our separate ways.

"So, why didn't you tell me you had plans with Weiss?" I asked a little confused.

"I don't. I just knew you wouldn't wanna hang out with Emerald so I made up an excuse." Hailey said.

"I didn't expect you to pull something like that, but I'm not gonna complain." I said.

Hailey blushed a little before turning away. "So where did you need to stop?"

"Oh, I guess I figured we'd just head to the mall again." I said.

"Oh, I thought you had something you needed to pick up." She asked.

"Not really, I kinda figured you'd just like some time away from the school again." I said rubbing the back of my neck.

"You could have just told me that." She said.

"I know, but if I say that at the school someone will suggest it's a date like Emerald did." I said.

"You have a point." She said.

"So, do you have somewhere you'd like to go?" I asked.

"Nowhere in particular." She said.

"Well I probably know the area about as well as you so I guess we could just walk around until we find something that interests us." I said.

"Or I could look up a map. We'd probably have a higher chance of running into Emerald and Ruby if we wandered aimlessly." She said pulling out her scroll.

"Good point." I said.

We looked over a map of the city and ended up heading to a local bookstore. Afterwards we headed to a diner on the northern edge of town. We looked into a couple other stores before heading to a cliff that overlooked the city.

"This place has a great view, don't ya think?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's beautiful." She said.

The two of us sat on a bench close to the edge. We looked over the city and watched the sun begin to set.

"So, I kinda had…" I started before she cut me off.

"Cian. Can I ask you to do something for me?" She asked.

"Of course." I said.

"Can you… Tell me my life means something…" She said.

"Hailey…" I said.

"Cian please." She said as a tear started rolling down her cheek.

"Of course your life means something. You've got friends back at Beacon who would back me up in a heartbeat. Why would you think otherwise?" I asked.

"It's not that I think otherwise. I just… felt like I needed to hear it. I know everyone else cares about me, but I needed to hear it from you." She said.

'She' s been perfectly fine all week. What's gotten into her… unless.' I thought. "Hailey, this whole week's been an act hasn't it?"

"How long have you known…?" She asked.

"Honestly, I didn't… I just had a hunch. Thinking back, it should have been obvious…" I said.

Hailey buried her face in her hands and started crying.

"I feel like I've been nothing but a burden to you and your team. Like I've had to have everyone look out for me like they had to babysit me. I tried acting strong so everyone would think they don't have to watch over me. Yet here I am crying like a baby again." She said.

I stood up and stepped in front of her. I took her hands and helped her to her feet.

"Hailey, you've never been a burden to me." I said wrapping my arms around her. "No one thinks they have to look out for you. They would look out for you just like they would anyone else." I said.

"I shouldn't have come here… I should have stayed home…" She said.

"Hailey…" I started. 'Now isn't the time…' "Hailey, I made a promise that I wouldn't let you give up. You wouldn't have come here without a reason and I know you can become a great huntress. I'm not doing this because I think you need it. I'm doing this because…"

Hailey looked me in the eye.

"Because…" I said. 'I can't…'

"Cian…" She said.

"Because a hero never goes back on his word. No matter what happens I'll always be there for you." I said.

Hailey gave a small smile before hiding her face again.

"Thank you." She said.

We sat back on the bench with her leaning her head on my shoulder. We waited until the sun had fully set before heading back. She grabbed my arm as we started heading back.

"You know, your promise can only last until we graduate. After that we'll be on our own." She said.

"I think I already mentioned. Destiny can have a funny way of turning out." I said.

 **Meanwhile in another part of the city.**

"Alright, I'm here. Who are you and what do you want?" Archer said.

A dark figure approached him.

"It's been a while. Hasn't it, Mr. Tealos?" Cinder said.

"What do you want?" He asked.

"I know about your little plan. I'm here to broker a deal for a mutual partnership." She said.

Archer gave a small laugh and walked towards Cinder. "Anything to be at my side, again right?"

"Come now, you should know me better than that." She said wrapping her arms behind his neck.

"I know you better than most." He said wrapping his arms around her waist.

"Then you know I don't bluff. We both want the same thing." She said.

"Do we?" He asked.

She leaned forward and their lips met. "We do."


End file.
